CEBU CITY, Philippines – If it meant convincing more individuals to get their booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Cebu City wants to connect with more members of the religious sector in promoting its vaccination drive.
The City Health Department revealed that they only administered around 130 booster doses during their recent PinasLakas campaign over the weekend.
Most of those who availed of the vaccination were senior citizens and people with comorbidities, said Dr. Jeffrey Ibones, the City Health Officer.
Ibones said last weekend’s turnout of the PinasLakas drive prompted them to consider partnering with more religious groups, aside from the Roman Catholic Church, to encourage more individuals to get their booster doses.
“Actually, nakigpartner naman ta sa simbahan… But we have plans to partner dili lang sa Catholic faith but other religions sad, religious groups,” Ibones told reporters in a teleconference.
(Actually, we are now in partnership with the church… But we have plans to partner not just with the Catholic faith but the other religions as well, religious groups.)
In the meantime, the City Health Officer said they “are doing their best” to come up with more strategies to drive more people to get the booster dose.
“Naningkamot ta mangita ug (lain) strategies, unsay buhaton. Nakita man gyud nato ang booster dili kaayo ingon ana kadaghan,” he added.
(We are working hard to find other strategies, what else we should be doing. We saw that those who availed of booster shots are not that many.)
The administration of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. is aiming to administer more booster shots as part of its intensified COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
As a result, the DOH had revised its guidelines in inoculating people against COVID-19.
This time, health officials will be determining their targets according to age groups instead of the sub-priority groups previously implemented.
Central Visayas, where Cebu City belongs, together with the other regions in the country, were given until October 8 to inoculate 90 percent of senior citizens, and make sure 50 percent of the general population, age 12 to 59 years old, already received at least their first booster shot.
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