BAGUIO CITY—The Department of Health in the Cordillera Administrative Region (DOH-CAR) has called on local government units (LGUs) for a concerted effort in vaccinating the elderly against Covid-19.
Dr. Ruby Constantino, DOH-CAR Regional Director and Regional Vaccination Operations Center (RVOC) chairperson, on Tuesday said Covid-19 remains a public health concern regardless of age, race, and ethnicity.
She, however, said that the risk of severe illness, complications, and death from Covid-19 increases with age.
Constantino said senior citizens are considered most vulnerable to Covid infection, and as such, are advised to remain at home at all times.
She said the vulnerability of the senior citizens is also the reason they are next in the priority for vaccination after workers in frontline health services.
“We are appealing to all our partners at all levels to assist the government in this endeavor, and to all 60 years old and above constituents to take this opportunity to be vaccinated,” Constantino said.
The doctor said that based on the data of the DOH-CAR as of June 14, there were 190 Covid-19 deaths among the elderly aged 60 to 69, or 27 percent of the total.
There were also 282 deaths among 70 years old and above, which account for 40.5 percent of the recorded deaths in Cordillera, the doctor added.
The regional Covid-19 tracker shows that as of June 21, the Cordillera has recorded 719 deaths due to Covid-19 since March 2020.
Constantino said that based on the latest available data on June 17, there are 144,446 senior citizens listed for vaccination in the region.
From this number, 37,357 or 25.86 percent already got their first dose of Covid-19 vaccines including 9,562 who already completed their two doses of the Covid jab.
Meanwhile, at least 1,300 senior citizens showed up for vaccination at a Cagayan de Oro mall on Sunday, according to the Department of Health in Region 10 (DOH-10).
Dr. David Mendoza, DOH-10 Local Health Support Division chief, said a special vaccination day was held for the A2 priority group to celebrate Father’s Day and fast-track the local government’s rollout.
He said the inoculation rate for senior citizens has been stuck at 20 percent of the target 300,000 senior citizens throughout Northern Mindanao.
“We offered this day [Sunday] to our elderly folks regardless of whether they had a pre-vaccination reference number or not. Those with reference numbers were accommodated more quickly but we ensured that all elderly citizens were accommodated,” he said.
DOH-10 is thankful for the elderly sector’s enthusiasm and urged those who have not yet been vaccinated to take advantage of the government’s vaccine rollout.
Meanwhile, Lt. Col Michelle Olaivar, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-10 (PRO-10), said 422 of their members with comorbidities have been inoculated so far.
PRO-10 maintains checkpoint operations in five boundaries entering Cagayan de Oro, in coordination with the Highway Patrol Group.
“We will not just be checking papers like barangay exit pass but we will also check the documents of the vehicles,” Olaivar said. PNA