By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
The Provincial Health Office (PHO) in Negros Occidental said yesterday that the local government units (LGUs) in the province need to achieve a 100 percent fully vaccinated target population in order to achieve actual herd immunity.
Based on the vaccination data released by PHO head, Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, as of January 9, the only LGUs closest to achieving actual herd immunity are the town of Murcia with 90.78 percent and La Carlota City with 89.53 percent.
Overall, the province has already fully vaccinated 873,223 individuals or 47.84 percent of the target 1,825,370 Negrenses.
At least 1,135,731 individuals, meanwhile, have already received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine or 62.22 percent of the target population, an increase of two percent compared to previous data released last January 2.
As for the current vaccination trend, the top five performing LGUs in the vaccination program are La Carlota City with 114.75 percent, Murcia with 99.52 percent, Cadiz City with 78.74 percent, Sagay City with 77.28 percent, and Talisay with 76.56 percent.
The PHO has also identified five LGUs which have achieved below 50 percent of their target for vaccination for this week.
They are the towns of Calatrava (37.97 percent), Toboso (41.86 percent), Cauayan (47.20 percent), La Castellana (46.27 percent), and the city of San Carlos (45.91 percent).
Tumimbang said the slowdown in some areas were attributed to recipients either becoming choosy as to what vaccines they want to take, or those who are still refusing to get vaccinated due to their religious beliefs.
“[Some people] would not go for Sinovac, they would rather take other vaccines such as Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca,” Tumimbang said.
Tumimbang also revealed problems with indigenous peoples in the province, wherein they are sometimes forced to seek help from tribal chieftains to convince their people to get vaccinated.
Previously, Negros Occidental is targeting to achieve herd immunity by February of 2022, however after the onslaught of super typhoon “Odette” in December of last year, it is currently unlikely that the province will be able to hit the target month./DGB, WDJ