Nat’l vaccination drive
DETERMINED to achieve “herd or community immunity,” the government has set its fourth national coronavirus disease (COVID-19) campaign on the second week of March.
This, after the elaborately-orchestrated third national COVID-19 vaccination drive failed to realize its target of inoculating five million Filipinos across the country.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the new vaccination campaign would focus on senior citizens, children aged 12 to 17 years old and areas with a low inoculation rate.
In the Philippines, the virus has killed 56,351 people since March 2020, when the government imposed a Luzon-wide lockdown to stop the further spread of COVID-19.
However, the lockdown failed to address the problem, with the dreaded and highly-contagious disease infecting people not only in Luzon but also in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Today, the virus has infected a total of 3,660,020 people across the country.
Of the more than 110 million population, 63 million, including senior citizens and people with comorbidities, have been fully vaccinated, which is 70 percent of the 90 million target.
Unlike in the past, more and more Filipinos now want to be inoculated because of the emergence of the highly-contagious “Omicron” variant in various parts of the country.
Hopefully, the fourth national COVID-19 vaccination campaign will succeed in encouraging more people to have themselves inoculated against the virus.
Kailangang magkaroon na tayo ng “herd immunity” para makabangon na ang ating ekonomiya bago pa man ang May 9 presidential, congressional, regional at local polls sa May 9.
