DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Oct. 4 (PIA) -- Some 277,094 individuals in Negros Oriental have been inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines as of Sept. 30. 

Assistant Provincial Health Officer and Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force - Emerging Infectious disease (PIATF-EID) Incident Ground Commander Dr. Liland Estacion said during her virtual press conference on Oct. 1 that the data is an accumulation of those who have received their first dose and those who completed their second dose. 

Around 136,553 persons have been injected with their first dose of the vaccine while 140,541 persons have already taken their second dose under the the A1 to A5 priority groups. 

Estacion said the numbers translate to 30.04% accomplishment rate for the vaccination drive in the province, with 908,939 individuals targeted to be vaccinated against the dreaded virus. 

However, only15.46% are considered fully vaccinated. 

Estacion noted that the vaccination rate in the province is starting to pick up. 

“(Ato) Gi-add ang first and second dose percentage. Sigurado man gud ang 1st dose mo-second dose. We will be reaching 30. 48 percent (accomplishment). I hope paspas ta. I hope naa tay 10 percent kada bulan (and) we will achieve 50 percent in December (We have added the percentage for first dose and the percentage of the second dose because those individuals who are still in their first dose will definitely get their second dose. By doing that, we will be reaching 30.48% accomplishment. I hope we can continue to increase by 10% every month so we could reach 50% by December. I really hope we could fast track the vaccination),” Estacion said. 

She also appealed to local government units (LGUs) to accelerate their vaccination drive as she assured that the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) will continue to provide vaccine supply. 

Estacion said the province has received 1,150 vials of Moderna vaccine last week and these are already allocated to LGUs. 

This is in addition to the 23,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines which were also allocated to all cities and municipalities earlier. 

For their part, the IPHO also has ample supply of Pfizer vaccines during the conduct of their mobile vaccinations in different LGUs. 

This month, the IPHO vaccination team will go to Bayawan city (Oct. 5), Ayungon (Oct. 7), Guihulngan City (Oct. 11), Canlaon City (Oct. 12), Siaton (Oct. 13), and Tayasan (Oct. 14) to hold another round of mobile vaccination to help boost the vaccine turnout in the LGUs. 

Estacion emphasized that adherence to prescribed health protocols is still important to contain the spread of the virus. 

Meanwhile, the province also logged an additional 612 cases of COVID-19 infection and 418 recoveries as of Oct. 1. 

This is an accumulated number of cases recorded from Sept. 29, 30, and Oct. 1. 

The new cases are recorded in Basay (22), Bayawan City (61), Sta. Catalina (47), Siaton (35), Zamboanguita (4), Dauin (6), Bacong (9), Valencia (22), Dumaguete City (85), Sibulan (29), Amlan (23), Tanjay City (30), Pamplona (9), Bais City (8), Manbinay (28), Manjuyod (10), Bindoy (18), Ayungon (9), Tayasan (25), Jimalalud (9), La Libertad (11), Guihulngan City (28), Vallehermoso (29), and Canlaon City (55). 

Additional four mortalities were also reported on the same day in Dumaguete, Dauin, Valencia, and Mabinay.

Negros Oriental currently has 14,370 cases, of which 1,889 are active cases, 12,184 recoveries, and 287 deaths. (RAL/PIA7 Negros Oriental)