DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, April 8 (PIA) -- The percentage of people who have completed their COVID-19 vaccination in Negros Oriental has reached 58.4%.

Provincial Health Officer and Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Incident Ground Commander Dr. Liland Estacion explained that the figure translates to 562,715 individuals who are fully vaccinated out of the target population of 990,637.

The breakdown of those who completed their vaccine doses are: 31,402 (A1); 54,622 (A2); 55,798 (A3); 152,329 (A4); 86,125 (A5); 97,514 for the Rest of the Adult Population (ROAP); 69,498 for the Rest of Pediatric Population (ROPP); and 9,427 for children aged five to 11 years old.

Around 70,300 persons from A1 to ROAP categories have also taken their vaccine booster jabs.

Around 562,715 individuals are still waiting for their second dose of vaccines, of which 55,094 belong to the A2 category.

Estacion noted that the general vaccination rollout in the province has slowed down especially in the A2 category.

With this, she appealed to the public to help the government in convincing the elderly to get vaccinated, as they need to be vaccinated the most.

“We don’t want to hear the word na tigulang na mi, we are okay already. Ang atong mga elderly, they are precious to the family. Kita na dili elderly, we are exposing them (sa virus) kay kita ang sige lakaw-lakaw (We don’t want to hear them say we are old and we are okay. Our elderly persons are precious to us. We are exposing them to the virus because we leave the house often),” Estacion said.

The health officer also pointed out that the vaccination rollout for the elderly persons is also a factor in the downgrading of alert levels.

Based on National IATF guidelines, one of the criteria to determine if an an area can be placed under Alert Level 1 is the number of vaccinated senior citizens which has to be 80% of its target population.

Dumaguete City has been placed under Alert Level 1 from April 1 to 15 while the rest of the cities and municipalities in the province are still under Alert Level 2.

Estacion also urged the public to encourage more persons eligible to be vaccinated to get their vaccine jabs especially the youth, in view of the move to open more face-to-face classes soon.

“If we have face-to-face (classes), atong gianuhan ang mga bata nato at risk na magkasakit especially on Covid. Palihug unta makasabot ta tanan na the only way to prevent Covid and to prevent deaths from Covid is mabakunahan ta tanan (Our children are still at risk of getting COVID-19 when we have face-to-face classes. I hope everyone understands that the only way to prevent Covid and to prevent Covid deaths is for us to get vaccinated),” she said.

Meanwhile, there are 14 additional cases of COVID-19 infection and 20 recoveries recorded in the province from March 28 to April 5.

The total number of active cases in the province is now at 17 while there are 22,770 recoveries, and 741 deaths. (RAL/PIA7 Negros Oriental)