By Rey Anthony Chiu | 04:33 AM July 09, 2022
Left with no other options, Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado is set to lay the blueprint and implement a vaccination plan that will finally get to 90% of senior citizens and meet the 50% of the general population here with at least, a booster shot against coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
The mandate is incorporated in the most recent National Vaccine Operations Center (NVOC) advisory which the Department of Health (DOH) shared to the local health authorities on the need to increase the sluggish vaccination performance in the country, in the face of a possible spike in cases.
During the emergency meeting which the governor called to reconvene the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) on the management of emerging Infectious Diseases like COVID-19, provincial Administrator Aster Caberte stressed that Bohol under the new governor will act on the marching order and would map out strategies to deliver on or before October 8, 2022.
The order just became even more daunting with Bohol still scoring a very low 62% vaccination accomplishment for senior citizens and a measly 12% of the general population with the booster dose, data from the local DOH bare.
DOH through nurse Neil John Oclarit, during the recent emergency meeting also shared that as of July 6, 2022, Bohol has 30 active Covid cases, a huge increase from the zero cases about two weeks before that.
The data however is still way below the recorded cases on September 13, 2021, when there were 2,119 active cases during the day, the highest number of active cases recorded in Bohol.
According to Oclarit’s report, in 2022, the highest spike was in midweek 4 or January 26 when the active cases came to a soaring 947 in a day. But since then, the cases slid down to single digits until midweek 17 or April 27, when the active cases spiked to 59, before sliding down to zero in midweek 21 or May 25.
What the governor was concerned about was when the cases seem to build up to 21 last June 29 (midweek 26) and 24 active cases by July 6.
Of the 30 cases reported as of July 6 at 10PM, Gov Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital chief Dr. Mutya Kismet Macuno said that 6 of these cases are admitted, and that the six are all unvaccinated.
Health authorities have proven that vaccination against the virus has disrupted the spikes seen all along the three year pandemic, however, the campaign has coasted to nearly a stop in the recent months.
Over this, Caberte pointed out her observations on the lost practice of contact tracing and emphasized on the need to revisit the practices that worked.
She also cited how inspections of vaccination cards and matching identification cards have become perfunctory that one would never know if the card bearer matched with the ID.
What is worse is that authorities assigned to the task are not doing their jobs, which has compounded the problem Bohol is facing.
The BIATF, upon the motion of Dr. Macuno, is getting back on serious vaccination and prioritizing of the towns with the least vaccination accomplishment, bringing in volunteers and organize house to house campaigns.
On this too, the BIATF convenes again next week to present strategic plans of action to implement and achieve what Bohol has failed to do to secure its residents from the perils of COVID and the deaths it can bring. (rahc/PIA_7/Bohol)