Kabasalan refutes report as lagging in vax rollout

 By: Jocelyn P. Alvarez

 

ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY, Nov 13 (PIA) – Kabasalan town officials refuted the health department’s report tagging the town as one of the municipalities with lagging vaccination rollout, saying that in the past,  allocation of vaccines for the municipality was low compared to the actual demand.

Joyce Aning of Kabasalan rural health unit (RHU) argued that one factor that affects the low turnout of vaccinated qualified individuals in Kabasalan was due to insufficient vaccine allocation for Kabasalan.

 

“Tanan nga nadawat namo na vaccine allocation, among na administer, kulang pa man gani, masuko na man lang gani namo ang mga tawo kay manguli sila nga wala na baksinan pagkahuman nilag linya, kay hurot gyud ang vaccine, (all vaccine allocation we received were administered, we need more! People are complaining that after queuing, they go home unvaccinated because there is not enough supply of the vaccine),” Aning said.

Her comment is in response to Department of Health (DOH) report that identified Kabasalan, along with the three other island municipalities in Sibugay Province to have recorded the lowest vaccination rate.

 

“Mataas ang demand generation namin dito, pero kung wala namang supply, anong magagawa namin,” she quipped.

 

Official data showed that Kabasalan town have administered all vaccine allocation received by the municipality with zero vaccine wastage, this was emphasized by the Kabasalan RHU during the  Regional "Project Haven Community" - COVID19 Vaccination rollout assessment.

 

Kabasalan has a total population of 42,875. To achieve herd immunity, 70 percent or 33,702 individuals need to be vaccinated. Of the target, 10,961 individuals from the adult and pediatric population were already inoculated as of November 10.

 

“Padal-i mi daghang vaccines, kaya namo na hutdon pag administer kay ang mga tao diri very accepting kaayo (send us more vaccines, we can administer all of it, people here are very accepting of the vaccines),” Health Education and Promotions Officer (HEPO)-designate Jonelle Nina Villaflores emphasized. 

She even joked “bisag nearing expiration pa na, mahurot  ra lagi na bag-o mag expire (even if its nearing expiration, we can finished administering it long before it expires).”

 

When asked, the Department of Health (DOH) did not give a direct reply as to why Kabasalan was tagged as such, but assured that more vaccines are now coming in for the entire Region IX. For kabasalan municipality, an additional allocation of 2,400 doses of Astrazenica vaccines recently arrived and received by the Kabasalan RHU and another 1,200 doses of Pfizer are set to arrive here. 

 

Meanwhile Municipal Health Officer Dr. Eric Cabayacruz said the municipality remains aggressive in its COVID-19 vaccination since the start of the rollout on March 24, 2021. 

 

“Halos wala na nga kaming pahinga, we are already exhausted, but we will not stop until we achieve the herd immunity, ” he said. 

 

The joint RIATF-RTF IX against COVID-19 implements "Project Haven Community" to ramp up vaccination rollout in identified areas in the region with low COVID-19 vaccination rate. Three teams, composed of Office of Civil Defense, Department of Health, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Information Agency, and Philippine National Police were deployed all over Region 9, starting November 11 to 22, 2021 to revisit present initiatives of the local government units in terms of vaccination rollout. The team will provide technical assistance, coordinated resource augmentation, and come up with catch-up plan and Gantt chart relative to the ramping up of vaccination rollout. 

 

The teams will visit DOH9-identified municipalities in Sibugay province with recorded low vaccination rate, such as Kabasalan, Alicia, Olutanga, Talusan, and Mabuhay. (RVC/JPA/Zamboanga Sibugay)