THE Davao City Covid-19 Task Force is not keen on implementing the "bakuna (vaccine) bubble," which limits the mobility of the unvaccinated people, as the city has not yet reached the targeted herd immunity.
Covid-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said in a radio interview on Wednesday, September 1, that this has not been discussed as of now considering the limited supply of vaccines allocated to the city.
"Dili na siya applicable because we have not achieved herd immunity yet and then dili pud ample ang atong allocation/appropriation for the vaccine kay daghan man gusto magpa-vaccine unya dili man enough ang atoang allocation at the moment," Schlosser said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
(It is not yet applicable because we have not achieved herd immunity yet. There is low ample allocation/appropriation for the vaccine because many people wanted to be vaccinated and yet we do not have enough allocation at the moment.)
The bakuna bubble concept is currently proposed in the National Capital Region, which allows fully vaccinated people full mobility but restricts the movement of those unvaccinated.
Schlosser said this proposed policy is similar to the "no vaccination card, no entry" in establishments, which the City Government also denied implementing.
She added this would be discriminatory, especially to individuals whose priority group is still not open.
"Kung ma-achieve na nato ang herd immunity, it would be sayon buhaton. At the moment, dili siya gina-entertain ," the spokesperson said.
(If we would be able to reach herd immunity, it would be easy to do. At the moment, it is not being entertained.)
According to the data of the Davao City Vaccination Cluster as of August 29, a total of 578,608 individuals were already vaccinated with the first dose and 324,741 were already fully vaccinated with the second dose.
The Davao City Government is targeting to vaccinate around 15,000 individuals per day and is targeting to vaccinate 1.2 million residents to achieve herd immunity.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is hoping the City can vaccinate its target of 1.2 million persons, at least for the first doses, before the end of 2021.
"We hope to open more vaccination sites para ma-achieve nato ang (so we can achieve the) 1.2 million first doses by October or November this year," Duterte-Carpio told media in an ambush interview on Friday morning, August 27, during the sector vaccination for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their immediate families at the Matina Town Square.
The mayor said the City ramped up its targeted daily vaccination to 15,00 from 10,000 individuals per day in a bid to vaccinate more Dabawenyos.
She admitted there are days that they were able to achieve this. She said this would depend on the days and the number of vaccination sites that are in operation.