Puerto Princesa is leading the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in MIMAROPA with a vaccination rate of 9.47 percent that is triple the national average of 3.3 percent.
In a phone interview on Wednesday, Dr. Dean Palanca, commander of the City Incident Management Team (IMT), said local health authorities remain confident about achieving the goal of 70% herd immunity by the third quarter of 2022 assuming vaccination supplies stay unchanged.
“Malaking tulong itong mga bagong dating na bakuna, pero kasama na din dito ‘yong binili ng City. Initial batch pa lang ito ng AstraZeneca kasi ‘yong iba to follow pa,” Palanca said.
The city government received on July 21 some 1,760 vials of Janssen vaccines (each with five jabs) or 8,880 doses produced by Johnson and Johnson pharmaceutical company, as well as 5,700 doses of AstraZeneca anti-COVID jabs.
As of July 19, an estimated 13,931 city residents have received their two doses of COVID-19 vaccines, accounting for 9.47 percent of the overall goal of 147,000 individuals, according to data from the Puerto Princesa Covac Program. Meanwhile, 27, 063 people received their first dose of vaccine from a stock of vaccines provided by the national government, including Sinovac, AstraZeneca, and Gamaleya Sputnik V.
The Department of Health – Center for Health Development MIMAROPA (DOH-CHD MIMAROPA) data showed that Occidental Mindoro received 45,950 jabs, Oriental Mindoro with 79,500, Marinduque with 42,040, Romblon with 39,990, Palawan with 81,800, and Puerto Princesa 50,420.
The Palawan Medical Society, Puerto Princesa Covac Team, and DOH MIMAROPA officials have also started rolling out the vaccination campaign in far-flung barangays, including Luzviminda on Monday.
Early January, the city government has allotted some P500 million to bankroll its vaccination campaign.
