THE entire Cebu reached more than one million fully vaccinated individuals on Monday, Oct. 4, 2021.
In a Project Balik Buhay (PBB) post, Cebu vaccination statistics showed there are now 1,000,608 fully vaccinated residents in the entire Cebu.
“One million Cebuanos fully vaccinated! It’s an amazing event that we need to celebrate. We pay tribute to all those who participated and worked so hard in making this happen,” Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) spokesperson, told SunStar Cebu.
Loreche said the challenge is greater ahead—to sustain the momentum or to survive the difficulties with the vaccine hesitancies.
“Herd immunity is not an impossibility provided we all work together ‘toward the new normal,” she said.
In a press release, Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, welcomed this development as he urged others to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
“This milestone is a step toward Cebu’s economic recovery,” Dino said. “By getting vaccinated, you can help prepare Cebu for the new normal.”
Based on the 2020 Philippine Statistics Authority report, Central Visayas has an estimated per capita income of US$7,800. This is equivalent to about P390,000 average income per year, or roughly P32,500 average income per month, according to PBB chairman Edmun Liu.
“Based on this PSA data, this market of one million fully vaccinated Cebu residents has a total spending capacity of P32.5 billion per month or P390 billion per year,” Liu said.
As of Oct. 4, a total of 2,129,330 vaccine doses have been administered across all public and private sector vaccination centers in Cebu.
Leading the local government units in vaccinating its eligible population is Mandaue City with 55.39 percent fully vaccinated individuals and 60.28 percent for the first dose.
Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Steven Yu said the attainment of 60.28 percent first dose vaccination rate in Mandaue City, is a big shot in the arm in terms of business and consumer confidence in the city.
“It’s a dramatic resurgence of hope that we are nearing the end of the tunnel. Now and more than ever, let us continue to spread vaccine confidence and encourage everyone to get jabbed. There are no more lines and vaccination now is both convenient and quick. With everyone’s cooperation, we can surely attain herd immunity before year-end,” he said.
Second is Lapu-Lapu City with 47.43 percent fully vaccinated individuals and 53.37 percent for the first dose, followed by Minglanilla with 45.24 percent fully vaccinated and 49.34 percent for the first dose and Cebu City with 44.06 percent fully vaccinated and 50.31 percent for the first dose.
In Cebu Province, 406,902 residents have received their first dose while 358,227 are fully vaccinated. (JOB)