DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Nov. 25 (PIA) -- The Negros Oriental Inter-Agency Task Force - Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) is targeting to vaccinate 75, 000 individuals against COVID-19 during the National Covid-19 Vaccination Days from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. 

Assistant Provincial Health Officer and PIATF-EID Incident Ground Commander Dr. Liland Estacion announced this in her virtual briefing on Nov. 23.

She said the PIATF aims to vaccinate at least 25,000 persons per day during the three-day event.

The national government has allocated substantial doses of Sinovac, Moderna, Astrazeneca, and Sputnik-V vaccines to the province which will be utilized during the National Vaccination Days.

The vaccines are arriving in the province in batches and these will be delivered to all local government units (LGUs).

Aside from this, there were also individuals who expressed their intent to assist health officers in administering vaccine jabs on the said dates.

Estacion said she and her counterparts in every LGU will have to agree on the number of volunteers to be deployed in every city and municipality as augmentation force during the conduct of National Vaccination Days.

The health official is also considering to deploy the vaccination team of the Integrated Provincial Health Office in one area in the north and one area in the south as part of the augmentation personnel to help LGUs accelerate their vaccination rollout.

With this, Estacion urged the public to get their COVID-19 vaccine jabs.

“Hangyo lang ko sa katawhan na unta magpabakuna na ta. We are already given by our government, our President, a chance to be vaccinated. Wala na ta rason pa para di ta magpabakuna. We need the vaccine for our protection (My appeal to the people is to get ourselves vaccinated. We don’t have any reason not to take the vaccines),” Estacion said. 

She admitted that among the provinces in Central Visayas, Negros Oriental is behind in terms of number of vaccinated individuals.

“Giingnan ta sa regional director (sa Department of Health) na pinakaubos sa region is Negros Oriental. I hope na karon end of the month maka 35 percent ta and in December maski 50 percent ta. Kinahanglan ta mag-vaccinate. How can we open (our borders) if dili ta magpa-vaccinate? ( I was told by the regional director of DOH that Negros Oriental has the lowest vaccination rate. I hope that through this we will be able to hit 35 percent rate in December or 50 percent by December. We need to get vaccinated. How can we open our borders if we will not vaccinate),” she said.

Malacañang has issued Poclamation No. 1253 declaring Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 as "Bayanihan, Bakunahan National Covid-19 Vaccination Days" to expedite and intensify the government’s vaccination program.

Agencies such as the DOH, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the National Task Force Against Covid-19 are directed to lead the three-day affair while the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and other government line agencies are instructed to give support to this activity.

The proclamation was signed by Executive Sec. Salvador Medialdea in behalf of the President.

The proclamation states that “employees, workers of the government and the private sector, who will be vaccinated during the aforesaid period, shall not be considered absent from their work,m provided that they present proof of vaccination to their respective employers, subject to rules that may issued by the Department of Labor and Employment and the Civil Service Commission.”

Based on the latest data of the PIATF, around 216,778 NegOrenses have completed their COVID-19 vaccine shots while around 301,736 persons have taken their first dose of the vaccines.

The figures cover those in the A1, A2, A3, A4, and A5 priority groups.

The PIATF’s target population to be vaccinated is 908,393. (RAL/PIA7 Negros Oriental)