TO quickly reach herd immunity the Department of the Interior and Local Government today challenged all local government units (LGUs) nationwide to ramp up and intensify vaccination efforts.
The objective is to reach the target 70% of the total population be fully vaccinated before the end of the year.
Secretary Eduardo M. Año told LGUs in a NTF-DILG-DOH-LGU meeting that the national government’s target is to reach 70% of the total population with at least one (1) dose by end of November and 70% of the total population fully vaccinated by end of December.
“Now that we have around 40 million doses sent to the provinces, we need to immediately jab these vaccines to the general population; thus we need the LGUs to double their efforts. As they say this is now “Vax to Max!. Lets have a truly Merry Christmas this year,” he said.
As of October 24, 55.71million doses have already been administered throughout the country, of which 30 million individuals had their first doses, and 25.71million had their second doses and are fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile Año also urged provinces to distribute to their component cities and municipalities their vaccine supplies within three days from the date of delivery to avoid wastage.
He said the receiving cities and municipalities should administer the vaccines to qualified recipients immediately and not more than within 15 days from the date of transfer.
“Now that we have a steady supply of vaccines, we need to ensure the timely distribution and administration of available vaccines not only to prevent wastage of resources but also to achieve population protection by year-end,” he said.
On the other hand in cities and municipalities that do not have enough storage facilities with cold chain temperature requirements, Año said the provinces should serve as storage hubs provided that COVID-19 vaccines for first doses are utilized within seven days and on schedule for the second doses.
The DILG chief strongly admonished against vaccine wastage saying that in case of negligence or indifference, LGU employees and personnel shall be properly investigated and necessary sanctions will be imposed, if warranted.
He said that those who will attempt to prevent the efficient implementation of the vaccination program will also be dealt with properly in accordance with existing laws and policies.
Año said local government units (LGUs) are crucial in realizing national policies on the ground.
“We need to strategically prioritize areas with high economic activities to recover faster from this pandemic,” he said.
So far, 30% of the LGUs have not consistently or promptly submitted their data through the vaccines operations reporting system.
Tags: #DILG, #COVID-19, #Vaccines, #LGUs