By HENRY EMPEÑO | March 9, 2022

IBA, Zambales — Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. has ordered local health officials here to further step up the pace of vaccination in Zambales and hasten the province’s return to normalcy in face of the waning Covid-19 pandemic.

Ebdane said on Wednesday that the Zambales Provincial Health Office (PHO), in response to his directive, has already formed 41 vaccination teams and set up 28 vaccination centers throughout the province to inoculate a target of 4,100 residents each day.

“We need to vaccinate more people, especially those in far-flung areas, primarily for their health and safety, and secondly to further open up the local economy, increase livelihood opportunities, and ensure food security,” Ebdane said.

“And we need to vaccinate 80% of the population before we can ease down from restrictions set up by the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases),” he added.

Ebdane explained that Zambales remains under Alert Level 2 despite its recent classification as Covid-19 low-risk area because of the required vaccination rate of 80% for senior citizens and the full vaccination of 70% of the local population.

“Actually, Zambales sort of became a victim of its own efficiency because when we were able to suppress and properly manage the Covid-19 situation early on, we became the least priority for vaccine distribution,” he said.

Ebdane added that the provincial government had allocated P200 million for the direct purchase of vaccines, but did not get clearance to do so.

As of March 8, a total of 369,674 residents, or 57%, already received their full vaccine doses, while 26,337, or 4%, are partially vaccinated and a total of 44,053 received booster shots, PHO data showed.

With a total of 253,604, or 39%, of residents remaining to be unvaccinated, Zambales health workers may need another two months to completely vaccinate the whole population—even if they reached their target of 4,100 vaccine recipients per day.

Ebdane said he has ordered the PHO to target upland agricultural communities and remote coastal areas where residents do not have easy access to health services.

To further speed up the provincial vaccination program, Ebdane said his office had initiated several special programs to prioritize marginalized sectors. These include “BakunITA”, which targets Ayta indigenous tribes; “islaBAKUNA”, for island-barangays and remote fishing communities; and lately the “ResbaKULONG”, a vaccine rollout for prison inmates.

PHO head Dr. Noel Bueno said his office will implement the intensified vaccination program targeting 4,100 recipients daily with the help of municipal health offices in the 13 towns of Zambales.

The 41 dedicated vaccination teams will do mobile rollouts and also man 28 vaccination sites that include public and private hospitals, schools, and sports complexes.

Bueno said the vaccination program includes master-listing and pre-vaccination screening, registration, health screening, health education and counselling, vaccine administration, and monitoring.

As of March 8, there remained in Zambales only 29 active cases of Covid-19, two of which were new. Exactly a month before, the record was still 195 active cases, 16 of which were new.

The province had so far recorded a total of 11,572 confirmed cases. Out of this, 11,271 have recovered, giving a 94% recovery rate, while 639 have died, thus a mortality rate of less almost 6%. ~

TOP PHOTO: Zambales health workers wade in the Bucao River after their vehicle stalled on the way to the remote village of Baytan in Botolan town for a vaccine rollout