Cebu City hopes to achieve herd immunity before 2021 ends

The pop-up vaccination site at the Cebu City Hall for employees. | Delta Dyrecka Letigio

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Only two cities in Cebu achieved herd immunity in its COVID-19 vaccination drive, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Tuesday.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año reported on Tuesday, December 7 that only 23 highly urbanized cities in the country managed to inoculate 70 percent of their population.

“Out of our highly urbanized cities, umaabot po ng 23 siyudad ang umabot na po ng 70 percent and up na fully vaccinated… So, ibig sabihin po almost sa target population ay nakamit na ang herd immunity sa target population,” said Año during the President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to the People aired on Tuesday.

In Cebu, these are the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu. The Capital, Cebu City, did not make it to the DILG’s list.

As of December 6, the National Vaccination Dashboard showed that Mandaue posted an immunization coverage rate of 80.70 percent while it is 73.07 percent for Lapu-Lapu.

Cebu City, meanwhile, is only around six points shy of the 70 percent benchmark. The same database stated that the city’s vaccination coverage rate is at 64.32 percent.

Central Visayas only has three HUCs – Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu with a combined population of around 1.6 million.

Among all three, Cebu City is the most populous, based on the 2020 census with 964,169 residents. It was followed by Lapu-Lapu with 497,604 and then Mandaue with 364,116.

Cebu City

The Cebu City Government, in an earlier interview with reporters, said they are confident they will get herd immunity before January 2022 arrives.

“Kay naa namay schedule sa atoa (para sa second dose), by the end of the year, naay posibilidad makuha nato ang herd immunity,” said Dr. Jeffrey Ibones, Cebu City Health Officer.

The city is targeting to inoculate at least 710,000 individuals. So far, more than 660,000 have already received the 1st dose of the vaccine, said Ibones.

“Hopefully mutunga sila sa atong second dose para maachieve na gyud nato ang herd immunity,” Ibones added.

Aside from Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, other cities included in the list are San Juan, Mandaluyong, Pateros, Marikina, Taguig, Pasay, Las Piñas, Parañaque, Manila, Muntinlupa, Makati, Valenzuela, Quezon, Navotas, Pasig, Malabon, Caloocan, Baguio, Angeles, Iloilo, and Davao. / with reports from INQUIRER.net

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