SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The low accomplishment on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination, particularly among senior citizens, is holding the province of Antique from being elevated to Alert Level 1 and will continue to be on Alert Level 2 until the end of May.

“The provincial government has already done everything to convince the seniors to avail of the COVID-19 vaccination for their own protection, but then they are still hesitant,” said Antique Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Action Officer Margie Gadian in an interview on Friday.

She said the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) personnel conduct vaccination for senior citizens every Friday of the week at the Binirayan Gymnasium and embarked on a “house-to-house” for advocacy.

The Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) distributed biscuits as incentives to the elderly who avail of the vaccination aside from meeting with senior citizens associations down to the municipal level to ask for their support.

The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), in its report, said that as of May 12, only 30,578 or 58% of the 52,725 eligible elderly in Antique are fully vaccinated.

Gadian again appealed to those hesitant to submit to the inoculation for the province to be classified under Alert Level 1.

“Please think deeply and be responsible to take care of your own health and safety because we know that the COVID-19 pandemic is real,” she said. Philippine News Agency

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