Cordillera nears 80 percent herd immunity vs Covid-19

By Liza Agoot 

BAGUIO CITY – The Dept. of Health in the Cordillera Administrative Region said the region is close to vaccinating 80 percent of its target population before achieving herd immunity against Covid-19.
    In a message on Tuesday, Dr. Amelita Pangilinan, DOH-CAR assistant regional director, said data from the Regional Vaccination Operations Center shows 77.23 percent of the total target eligible population in the region have received the two doses of different brands of the Covid-19 vaccine.
    The region's vaccination program has a target population of 1,144,384 individuals.
Pangalinan said the DOH also helps the local government units in ensuring that they reach the 80-percent herd immunity target.
Baguio City has the highest vaccination accomplishment, exceeding its target population of 305,448 with a 106.68-percent vaccination rate.
    Abra is second with 92.08 percent of the 201,244 targets; followed by Apayao with 78.10 percent of its 101.250 targets; Kalinga with 76.57 percent of its 197,754 target population; and Mountain Province with 70.39 percent of 127,314 target individuals.
    Ifugao has the lowest accomplishment, so far vaccinating only 52.84 percent of its 172,134 target population.
Benguet Province has a 59.40-percent accomplishment rate among its 394,649 targets.
    Karen Lonogan, chief of the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU), earlier said that the DOH-CAR has allotted additional manpower to provinces that have yet to reach herd immunity.
    “Nagbabahay-bahay na tayo kasama ang LGUs para masigurado na mararating natin gaano man sila kalayo (We are going house to house with the local government units to assure that we can reach the people no matter how far they live),” she said. -- PNA