THE Cebu City Vaccine Advisory Board has eyed to vaccinate against Covid-19 majority of the residents in the city's upland barangays within September.
Data provided by Management Information and Computer Services (MICS) officer-in-charge Richter Castañares showed that as of September 17, only 21.4 percent of the total registered individuals in the city’s mountain barangays were fully vaccinated.
The report also showed that only 23 percent out of the 36,397 individuals registered in mountain barangays in the north district of Cebu City were fully vaccinated, while the south district had 20 percent of the 34,650 eligible population.
North District: 36,397 registered individuals -- 11,692 (first dose) and 8,267 (second dose)
South District: 34,650 registered individuals -- 9,578 (first dose) and 6,916 (second dose)
In an interview last June, when the City started inoculating residents from mountain barangays, Vice Mayor Michael Rama, convener of the Covid-19 vaccination program, said the City targets to vaccinate majority of the residents from the upland areas by September.
Cebu City Health Department (CHD) officer-in-charge Jeffrey Ibones hoped they will reach their target number of fully vaccinated individuals within September, adding that several factors were considered in inoculating the residents from mountain barangays.
Ibones said residents of upland villages should be vaccinated especially that some of them do not strictly follow the health protocols, like wearing of face mask.
"It would be nice (to vaccinate them sooner) because sometimes, some people in the mountain do not wear face mask," Ibones told SunStar Cebu.
"Once we get the majority of them, that would be a very big help," he added.
He said residents of upland villages would have a hard time going to vaccination sites due to distance and transportation.
To address this issue, the Cebu City Vaccine Advisory Board have set up vaccination sites, usually on weekends, in a particular village. The neighboring mountain barangays then ferry their residents to the vaccination site. (JJL)