BORONGAN CITY (PIA) — The province of Eastern Samar is nearing its target to vaccinate 70% percent of its population to achieve herd immunity.
In an interview with DOH-8 Regional Director Dr. Exuperia Sabalberino on Thursday, November 30, she said that vaccinated individuals in Eastern Samar with COVID-19 vaccine is now at 68% of the target population which is 243,522 individuals.
She added that some 114,382 are still unvaccinated.
“It’s almost there. With a little sacrifice and continuously helping one another we can achieve 70% herd immunity,” Dr. Sabalberino added.
She further said that based on the report on November 29, Eastern Visayas ranked second nationwide in terms of the number of vaccinated individuals during the first day of Bayanihan Bakunahan 2021 at 65.70%.
“It means, Eastern Visayas vaccinated more or less 147,502 individuals for the first dose and second dose during the first day of 2021 Bayanihan Bakunahan. This is only a partial report, we are still far from the target population,” she said.
The regional director said the regional target is a 3.3-M population. Before the national vaccination began, the coverage has already reached 1.7-M. “That’s why we have still more or less 1.6-M that are unvaccinated in the region.”
She encouraged and appealed to all illegible unvaccinated individuals in Eastern Visayas to cooperate.
“If we can’t get the 70% herd immunity, there will be no foreign and local tourists to visit in our provinces because we are not protected against COVID-19,” she further said.
Sabalberino assured that there are sufficient vaccines for the 3-day National Vaccination Days or Bayanihan Bakunahan.
“Please don’t be choosy, what is available is the best vaccine that we can have,” she said.
She appealed to every family of Eastern Samareños to be vaccinated so that this Christmas Season will be merrier.
“We are not yet safe with this COVID-19. We still need to observe the minimum health protocols such as avoiding crowded areas, observing social distancing, and wearing face masks,” she said.
She also urged the senior citizens to be vaccinated because the ones that are susceptible to the virus are the senior citizens.
“Ninety five percent of the active cases are senior citizens who are unvaccinated, and 90% of those who died are unvaccinated senior citizens,” Sabalberino said. (NBQ/SDC/PIA-E. Samar)
