SIQUIJOR, Siquijor, Nov. 15 (PIA) -- Larena is the first town in the province of Siquijor to reach the 70% herd immunity goal set by the Department of Health (DOH), according to the vaccination report presented by DOH representative Zella Maye Samson during the Siquijor Provincial Task Force for COVID-19 meeting on Nov. 13.

In its Facebook page, the Municipality of Larena posted that with the combined efforts of the local government unit led by Mayor Danny Villa and the Larena Rural Health Unit (RHU) led by Dr. Susan Jojie Villa, Larena has now achieved a landmark milestone of 11,116 jabs against COVID-19. 

As of Nov. 15, 70.65% of Larena's estimated population is now fully vaccinated, according to DOH's recent data.

Enrique Villanueva followed with 68.83%, Siquijor (68%), Maria (61.20%), Lazi (54.04%), and San Juan (51.71%).

“It took eight months for Larena town to achieve the mammoth feat in administering over 11,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to eligible groups since the start of the inoculation drive in March,” the post said.

The Larena LGU salutes its frontline workers and volunteers who have never stopped in their efforts to ensure that Larena is fully equipped in fighting the pandemic. 

Siquijor is also first in vaccination coverage among the four provinces in Central Visayas with a total of 31,811 or 58.5%  from its estimated 18 years old and above eligible population of 70,859 as of Nov. 12, said the DOH report.

The province of Bohol followed with 27.8%, Cebu (22.1%), and Negros Oriental (19.5%) of the estimated eligible population of 5,638,340 for the whole of Region 7.

Meanwhile, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Walthrode Opay, during the Provincial Task Force meeting, reiterated his call to intensify vaccination efforts in the province.

He said he has met with the municipal health officersn and Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) vaccination team and came up with strategies to further increase vaccination coverage.

This includes additional teams and provision of medical doctors from the IPHO to augment RHU efforts, barangay and house-to-house visits to reach far-flung areas, and counselling to address those resistant households.

Vaccination for A1 to A5 eligible priority groups, rest of adult population, pediatric A3 (with commorbidities) and rest of pediatric groups is ongoing in all six municipalities, Samson added. 

The National COVID-19 Vaccination Program is a strategy in the country’s cornerstone of response to prevent COVID-19 mortalitity and morbidity.

It is to fully complement existing strategy of prevention detection, idolation, treatment and reintegration. (RAC/PIA-Siquijor with reports from DOH Siquijor and Cindy Bonachita, LGU Larena)