THE Zamboanga City Government has innovated the vaccination rollout to encourage people to get booster doses for added protection as coronavirus disease remains ever present in the community.

The City Health Office said in a statement that the vaccination rollout is done through fixed sites, house-to-house and settings-based approaches to reach all eligible populations.

Mayor John Dalipe also launched the rice incentive program wherein a vaccinee gets free five kilos of rice for a vaccine booster dose.

A total of 210,145 individuals have received their first booster dose representing 33.4 percent of the Department of Health (DOH)-set target population of 627340.

Most of those who received their first vaccine booster are the frontline personnel in the essential sector with 64,620.

A total of 19,101 residents or three percent of the DOH-set target population got their second vaccine booster.

Majority of those who got their second vaccine booster were from the A3 priority group, which comprises individuals with comorbidity with 6,527.

First vaccine booster rolled out in mid-November of 2021 while the second booster rolled out three months later.

The City Health Office has administered a total of 1.6 million doses of Covid-19 primary vaccines since the vaccination rollout in March 2021.

Of the 1.6 million doses, 696,536 were first dose and 686,857 were second dose.

Following the DOH-set target population of 627,340, the city is 111-percent partially vaccinated and 109 percent fully vaccinated. (SunStar Zamboanga)