Iloilo eyes 70% immunity vs COVID by Nov 28

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

The Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO) expects to fully vaccinate 70 percent of its population against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by November 28, 2021.

IPHO’s COVID vaccination data as of Sept. 21 indicated that 356,879 persons have received the first dose of the vaccine, while 253,997 have been fully vaccinated.

A person is fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the second dose for 2-shot vaccines.

The number of fully vaccinated persons translates to 18 percent of the province’s target for herd immunity (1.45 million), based on its projected population for 2021 at 2.06 million.

Based on these figures, 1.19 million people in the province must be fully inoculated to achieve herd immunity.

Herd immunity is achieved when a large portion of a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected — not just those who are immune. (Mayo Clinic)

IPHO chief Dr. Socorro Quiñon said their office urged local government units (LGUs) to meet daily inoculation target numbers to reach herd immunity by November 28.

“We have required the LGU daily to have a vaccination target, so that they could reach this number by November 28. We can achieve the target already,” Quiñon said.

“We have lapse or lag of 2 weeks where there were no vaccines arriving, but right now we were assured by the DOH that we have a lot of vaccines and in fact, we have the most vaccine allocations [in Region 6],” she added.

More vaccines are arriving today in the province, including 11,700 doses of Pfizer, 30,000 doses of Sinovac, 15,800 of Moderna, and an undetermined number of AstraZeneca.

The IPHO will also continue its village-based Bakunahay Sa Barangay program, which has already administered 5,397 first-dose jabs in Pavia, Santa Barbara, and Pototan, as of 10:00 a.m. of Sept. 23.

This community inoculation was piloted in mid-September in Santa Barbara, and was rolled out this week in Pototan, Pavia, and Anilao.

Quiñon said that the IPHO is aiming community inoculations in five municipalities, including Oton and Carles.

The vaccination program will start in Oton today, Sept. 24, at Brgy. Abilay Norte.

Quiñon said they might finish the barangay-based rollout this week in Santa Barbara.

Vaccinations will also continue in Pototan, Pavia, and Anilao this week.