Unvaccinated persons make up 88% of COVID-19 deaths in Cebu – VVOC spox

Dr. Mary Jean Loreche | CDN Digital File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Most of the people who died of the COVID-19 in Cebu from January 1 to 19, 2022, are unvaccinated individuals.

Doctor Mary Jean Loreche, spokesperson of the Visayas Vaccination Operation Center (VVOC) and chief pathologist of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7), said in a press briefing on January 21, 2022, that out of the 49 deaths recorded in that period of time period, 43 were unvaccinated.

“Of the total 49 deaths, 43 of these or 88 percent are unvaccinated. This is why we will make available the vaccine in our hospitals whether for COVID or non-COVID reasons. So if sila ay wala pang bakuna, pwede natin silang ma-engganyo magpabakuna (So if they do not have the vaccine yet, we can convince them to     have the vaccine),” she said.

DOH-7 said that in a meeting with hospitals administrators, the hospitals in Cebu had agreed to conduct vaccination in their facilities for patients. They will be allocated vaccines for this particular movement.

Loreche said that 80 percent of admissions in the hospitals were unvaccinated and if the vaccine was available for free in the hospitals, the patients might be convinced by health care professionals to get the jab.

“Kung ayaw pa rin po magpabakuna, nandiyan na nilalapit na, sinusubo na po sa kanila yung bakuna natin with the help of our hospitals and centers, ewan ko nalang po kung bakit ayaw pa magpabakuna. I do hope and pray na kaya natin ito,” she said.

(If they will still not want to be vaccinated when it is already near them, it is spoonfed to them with the help of our hospitals and centers, then I really don’t know then why they would not want to be vaccinated. I do hope and pray that we can surpass this.)

The hospital utilization rate in Cebu is still within safe and comfortable rates. For private hospital, the utilization rate is at 44 percent with only 286 beds occupied out of the 650 allocated beds for COVID-19.

For public hospitals, the utilization rate is at 65 percent, which is lower than in the past week, since many public hospitals have increased its bed allocations for COVID-19 with the current surge.

Loreche said that health care workers were now getting affected by the surge brought by the Omicron variant. Hospitals are reporting that many of their staff are currently in isolation because of a rise in cases among them.

This is why the DOH-7 is urging local government units (LGUs) to open more temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) to ensure that only moderate to severe cases are being admitted to the hospitals and they don’t get congested.

The vaccination in the hospital should help in the reduction of cases as well.

Meanwhile, pharmacies will be selected per area to also hold vaccinations, just like what has been launched in the National Capital Region (NCR) recently.

Pharmacies will be identified in the different local government units (LGUs) as vaccination sites to help out in the vaccination efforts.

The DOH-7 also plans to put up vaccination sites at transportation hubs to reach out the transportation sector and their passengers.

“Supply is not an issue, it is our willingness to be vaccinated, to convince everyone around us to be vaccinated,” said Loreche.

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