The provincial government of Benguet has instructed the 13 municipal health offices to strengthen their house-to-house vaccination drive to reach a 70 percent provincial vaccination rate.
Benguet Provincial Health Officer I Meliarazon Dulay said the PHO has mobilized the vaccinators in the province to continue with the information education campaign on the benefits of the Covid-19 vaccines and conduct vaccination especially in the far-flung areas.
Based on the May 17 data of the PHO, Benguet has recorded 61.26 percent coverage for its general population and 59.83 percent for its targeted A2 population or the senior citizens.
The Department of Health earlier said each local government unit must achieve 70 percent coverage of its target population, one of the primary considerations in placing any LGU under Alert Level 1.
Only Tublay and Buguias were earlier placed under alert level 1 by the Inter-Agency Task Force.
Tublay has a vaccination rate of 76.05 percent for its general population and 87.09 percent for the A2 population while Buguias has 73.41 percent for its general population and 71.03 percent rate for the A2 population.
Other towns with more than 70 percent vaccination rate for the A2 population are Bokod with 83.12 percent, Kapangan with 97 percent, and Sablan with 84.69 percent.
La Trinidad, on the other hand, has a vaccination rate of 70.79 percent for its general population.
The towns with below 70 percent vaccination rate for both categories are Atok, Bakun, Itogon, Kabayan, Kibungan, Mankayan, and Tuba.
Dulay said vaccine hesitancy is still the reason for the low percentage of vaccination rate in these areas.
Earlier, the DOH-Cordillera said Benguet and Ifugao remain under Alert Level 2 due to their below 70 percent vaccination coverage.
Five towns in Ifugao have low vaccination rates. These are Tinoc with 31.57 percent, Asipulo with 39.28 percent, Hungduan with 52.55 percent, Banaue with 56.16 percent, and Aguinaldo with 66.75 percent. – Ofelia C. Empian
