Ilocos Norte holds Covid-19 mass vaccination for students

By John Michael Mugas 

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte—The Commission on Higher Education and a state university in Ilocos Norte province launched Nov. 8 mass vaccination against Covid-19 among its students in preparation for face-to-face classes, officials said.
    The vaccination drive in Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) aims to vaccinate at least 800 students, said Dr. Shirley Agrupis, university president during the ceremonial vaccination program.
    Agrupis said 75 percent of the total student population in the university had already been vaccinated.
    “We are only aiming now for about 3,000 students to reach 100-percent vaccination rate,” she said.
    Agrupis appealed to deans and student coordinators to help the university to reach out to unvaccinated students as it is “the only protection that we could get to sustain the viability of the education system in the region.”
    “There is no rule that students will not be allowed to attend face-to-face classes if they are unvaccinated. But if we fail to entice and subject them to vaccination, then we fail,” she said.
    The provincial government announced that Ilocos Norte would be under Covid-19 Alert Level 2 beginning Monday last week.
    This means that limited in-person classes for 50-percent capacity in the province would already be allowed under three conditions which include a high vaccination rate among students and faculty.

Dr. Gretchen Ranada, vaccination team leader of nearby Mariano Marcos Hospital, said at least 27,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines had already been administered to the employees of the university since June.