SAN FERNANDO CITY, Aug. 19 (PIA) – Some 7,466 personnel of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Ilocos are now fully vaccinated against the deadly COVID-19 virus as of August 16.

This is around 15 percent of the 51,058 total workforce of DepEd in Ilocos who have completed their jabs while there are 11,360 personnel or some 22.2 percent who had their first dose and still on deck for their next shot.

In the regional office, 95 percent or some 144 out of 155 eligible population was jabbed of which 45 are completely immunized.

Based on the report of the Public Affairs Unit (PAU), more than 54 percent of the total eligible population of the DepEd in Ilocos had already been registered in the vaccination program and are now just waiting for their schedule.

Also, the PAU says that the management strongly encourages the employees to get vaccinated and be protected against the virus.

On this regard, DepEd devised a simple reward system for schools and schools’ division offices (SDOs) who can attain a hundred percent of vaccination rate.

The Malasakit (Solicitude) Award will be given to schools and SDOs whose 100 percent of their personnel are inoculated with the first dose.

While the Ligtas (Protected) Award will be given to schools which can record a hundred percent of fully vaccinated employees and Vaccunado (Vaccinated) Award will be brought home by SDOs with highest percentage of fully vaccinated workers. (JCR/CGC, PIA La Union)