Government to extend Bayanihan vax drive

MANILA, Philippines — The government is eyeing to extend for another week the fourth round of “Bayanihan Bakunahan” in areas with low vaccination rates.

Health Undersecretary and National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) chair Myrna Cabotaje admitted that the government finds it difficult to achieve the target of vaccinating 1.8 million more people nationwide.

The vaccination output remained low in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan), with only 15,000 and 14,000 inoculated, respectively, during the first two days of the initiative.

Cabotaje sees the need to change strategies so health workers will be able to reach out to more people, especially senior citizens.

She noted that rains and flooding in several areas prevented people from going to vaccination sites and for vaccinators to do the house-to-house inoculation.

“We still haven’t vaccinated many among the senior citizens. We are finding it hard to convince them to avail of this government service. They argue that they are already old and will soon face death,” she said in Filipino.

Cabotaje noted, though, that the pediatric vaccinations had a good turnout with 50 percent of those aged 12 to 17 having received their primary doses.