FOUR local government units (LGUs) in Metro Cebu still have to find and register about 162,000 eligible individuals for vaccination to achieve its target of 1,774,081 registered eligible vaccinees for Covid-19.
These are the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay, and the Municipality of Consolacion.
Data from the Visayas Covid-19 Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) showed that Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Talisay, Naga, Minglanilla and Consolacion have a combined population of 2,479,248 who are eligible to get Covid-19 vaccines, but to achieve herd immunity, at least 1,774,081 of this population have to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, VVOC spokesperson, said that as of Thursday, August 19, the LGUs have only masterlisted 1,612,175 people and still have a “masterlist balance” of 161,906 in the Vaccine Information Management Systems (VIMS).
“The LGUs are faced with many challenges now: Covid-response and vaccination. For the masterlist to be completed, there is a need to go down to the level of households, purok, and sitios, which I believe, most of our LGUs are doing already,” she said.
“The call is also for our people to do their share -- help in our vaccination program by actively having themselves master listed instead of waiting for the house to house calls and listing,” she added.
She said three LGUs have already finished masterlisting their eligible vaccinees. These are the Lapu-Lapu City Government with 346,178 masterlisted individuals, the City of Naga (92,524), and Minglanilla (129,608).
However, while the government continues to campaign for Covid-19 vaccination, the vaccine supplies available are not yet enough to cover those who have already registered for vaccination.
Loreche said that as a whole, Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Talisay, Naga, Minglanilla and Consolacion have only received 899,150 doses of Covid-19 vaccine and were able to use 435,092 doses as first dose and 229,292 doses as second dose.
Cebu City, for instance, has already masterlisted a total of 522,073 vaccinees, but only received a total of 310,871 doses as of August 17.
The government assured earlier that the country will have a “steady supply” of Covid-19 vaccines in the next months, as the National Government secured or procured 164 million doses while also working on getting additional doses from donations.
The VVOC, Loreche said, computes vaccine allocation based on performance, masterlisting of vaccinees, and the capacity of the LGUs’ vaccination venue.
Metro Cebu is composed of 13 LGUs, but for the purpose of vaccination reporting, Loreche said the VVOC only included the seven LGUs in its Metro Cebu reporting.
Updates for the cities of Danao and Carcar, and the municipalities of Compostela, Liloan, Cordova, and San Fernando were included in the reporting for Cebu Province. (WBS)