WHILE Davao City fell short of its 49,000-daily target of the national vaccination drive from November 30 to December 2, the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force said the over 75,000 total vaccinated individuals in three days is a "good number."
Covid-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said Friday, December 3, that while the city has not met the target vaccinees of 147,000 for the “Bayanihan Bakunahan,” the number of persons vaccinated by the city was already a “good number as compared to other local government units (LGUs).”
"Wala nato ang (We were not able to hit) 49,000 per day, but we were able to garner ubay-ubay pud (a lot of people)... That's actually a good number compared to other LGU," Schlosser said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
Schlosser said the city was able to vaccinate 30,123 individuals on November 29, while 21,377 people were vaccinated on November 30, and 23,976 on December 1.
This does not include December 2 and 3 data. This was after the national government extended the “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” national Covid-19 vaccination days until Friday, December 3.
As of December 1, the city has already achieved 87-percent herd immunity for the first dose or a total of 1,136,577 vaccinated persons, while 967,053 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have already been administered for the second dose, bringing the herd immunity percent to 75 percent.
"Naa na ta sa level na duol na gyud ta sa makuha nato ang herd immunity. Dili lang 70 percent atong goal, but we are aiming for 100 percent,” Schlosser said.
(We are nearing the level wherein we are almost hitting the herd immunity. But we do not only settle to hit the 70 percent goal, but we are aiming for 100 percent.)
The city initially targeted to vaccinate 1.2 million out of the estimated 1.8 million total population.
Schlosser said the city has already implemented several strategies to expand the vaccination rollout within the communities and had intensified its information drive to combat vaccine hesitancy, which remains to be the main problem.
Among the vaccination strategies the city had initiated include the house-to-house vaccination, mobile vaccination led by the Davao City councilors, drive-thru vaccination at People’s Park, and the “Bakuna Nights” (evening vaccination) for those workers who cannot visit the vaccination hubs during daytime due to work.
Even without the Bayanihan Bakunahan, she said the city’s vaccination drive never stopped. She added the city had added more vaccination sites and implored other strategies to achieve a large number of vaccinated individuals.
She also emphasized that the city has an ample supply of different Covid-19 vaccine brands, giving the public no reason not to get vaccinated of their preferred vaccine of choice.
Vaccine hesitancy remains a negative factor for the city to reach its target.
"Ang pinaka-factor why wala pa nato ma-achieve ang (The main factor why we still have not reached the) herd immunity [is] because of the people themselves," Schlosser said.
The official said the city will be participating again in the second batch of the national vaccination day sometime around December.