MANILA -- The town of Kinoguitan in Misamis Oriental is now ready to vaccinate individuals included in the A4 priority list under the COVID-19 vaccination program.

Mayor Lilibeth Lagbas on Thursday said that it was a challenge for them to move forward with the program due to vaccine hesitancy among senior citizens.

“It was really difficult for us at the start. We continued our initiative on fetching those individuals and taking them to our vaccination sites,” she told Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar, host of the Network Briefing News.

She said an information drive was put in place to inform residents that the vaccine is safe and effective. They also partnered with their rural health unit to reach out to the communities, especially those eligible for the vaccine.

“When they saw that cases of COVID-19 are increasing in the country and also heard the pronouncement of President Duterte that unvaccinated individuals should only stay indoors, many were encouraged and are now lining up in our jab site,” she added.

To date, the town has vaccinated 50% of its total number of senior citizens and is now moving to inoculate economic workers.

Aside from the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccination program, according to Mayor Lagbas, they also continue to provide for families affected by the pandemic, which includes social services like burial and death assistance, and financial assistance for those who lost their jobs during the pandemic.

This is on top of its efforts on enforcing the minimum health standards against the spread of the virus. She noted they have also recreated their way of celebrating their Araw ng Kinoguitan, also known as the Kaahaan Festival.

Celebrated every August, Kaahaan Festival is a celebration of the agricultural bounty of the town, which greatly affected the farmers since the start of the pandemic.Mayor Lagbas said they are making sure that agricultural assistance is available for farmers. (PCOO)