Ninety-six percent of the recent Covid-19 deaths in Baguio City had not been vaccinated.
City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) Head Donnabel Panes said that of the 106 fatalities recorded from April 19 to July 5, four individuals had at least one dose of the vaccine while 102 had none.
“There were 34 who registered for vaccination so they were willing to get vaccinated but did not make it,” Panes said.
She said the city needs to ramp up the vaccination program to realize its impact and that more efforts should be exerted to have the vulnerable population, especially the senior citizens, inoculated.
“We started vaccinating our senior citizens last April and since then, we have had 106 deaths, most of them seniors. This means that we have to vaccinate all our elderlies to protect them from developing severe symptoms that may lead to death,” Panes said.
The mean average age of those who died was 65 years with an age range of 41 to 99 years old. Males comprised 67 percent of these deaths while 33 percent were female.
According to the CHSO, a total of 22,718 senior citizens have registered for vaccination but only 60 percent or 13,538 received full vaccination.
As of July 13, the CHSO recorded a total of 292 deaths out of the 14,760 cases for a case fatality rate of 1.98 percent.
“Our case fatality rate is now low at 1.98 percent but is still higher than the national rate at 1.79 percent. We have been seeing fewer deaths in the city since June,” she said.
The CESU under the City Health Services Office and the Management Information Technology Division analyzed the profile of Covid-19 deaths to determine the effect of the ongoing vaccination as to the positive cases and deaths.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong has been advocating for the vaccination of elderlies despite the limited supply of vaccine by locating and convincing them and through the mobile vaccination and the one-step special lane programs to curb the high incidence of death among the sector. – Jessa Samidan and Aileen Refuerzo
April 19, 2024
