The authorities of the Department of Health in Region 11, meaning the five provinces of Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental and Davao Oriental, the five cities, 43 municipalities and the 1162 barangays therein, have admitted that the region is still far from achieving herd immunity in its vaccination drive against COVID-19.
This is because some 40 percent of the 3.7 million people targeted for inoculation have remained unvaccinated. (3.7 million is about 70 percent of the region’s 5.2 million total population)
The DOH data pose as a big challenge to the authorities. They have to look for innovative ways to accelerate the vaccine rollout which is bedeviled by low acceptance of a public whose gullibility is sadly lending credence to outrageous conspiracy theories, superstitious beliefs and plain fear of the syringe.
In fairness, the situation is improving that some people in the know exude optimism that the herd immunity can be achieved in this part of the country toward the end of the year.
Let’s hope that the authorities battling the pandemic will not run out of novel ideas in the vaccination campaign such as “bakuna nights” for working Dabawenyos, mobile vaccination initiated by the Sangguniang Panlungsod, house-to-house vaccination and drive-through vaccination
Leaders of local government units (LGUs) hopefully will discover new ways to accelerate the vaccination process and finally breach the herd immunity level very soon
