To increase the number of Davao Oriental residents who are given COVID-19 booster shots, the provincial government of Davao Oriental and the Department of Health Region XI jointly launched the intensified vaccination campaign dubbed “PinasLakas.”
Led by Governor Corazon N. Malanyaon, the PinasLakas, which is a national vaccination campaign under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the program expects to vaccinate new target populations. In Davao Oriental, the campaign targets to cover 90 percent of senior citizens, 80.6 percent general population, and 50 percent booster vaccination.
“We hope to vaccinate as many people as possible as we want to finally do away with alert level classifications,” said Dr. Reden Bersaldo, Provincial Health Officer II.
Governor Malanyaon also expressed her full support for the campaign, saying the program will significantly impact the province’s thrust in helping the economy recover.
Aside from doing away with the alert level classification, she said massive vaccination will also improve the tourism sector as visitors will have more confidence to come to the province. The Governor added that using face masks may one day become a thing of the past, and fewer people will have to be hospitalized.
Governor Malanyaon said she is optimistic that the program will make a huge difference in her province’s bid to make her constituents healthy and COVID-free.
Department of Health Regional Director Dr. Anabelle Yumang congratulated the province of Davao Oriental for being among the top-performing provinces in the region in terms of the vaccination campaign.
Based on the data from the DOH Davao Center for Health Development, there were already 46,003 individuals in Davao Oriental who have been inoculated with the first dose of COVID-19 booster shots, while 1,665 were already on their second dose as of July 31, 2022.
This means that the province has accomplished 10.9 percent of the 421,316 total target individuals for the first dose of booster jabs while 0.4 percent on the second dose of booster shots.
On Monday’s launch, three local government units in the province were recognized for their accomplishments in the COVID-19 vaccination.
The City of Mati received the Best Last Mile Implementation award for reaching 89.6 percent of its target population for the COVID-19 vaccine. The City of Mati also has the most significant percentage of immunized residents in the Davao Region, which has significantly supported Davao Oriental’s placement under Alert Level 1.
The Municipality of Tarragona was also recognized for having the most significant number of A3 or Comorbidities Population vaccinated. At the same time, the Municipality of Caraga bagged the Best Pediatric and Senior Citizen Vaccination award.
For its exceptional efforts in creating partnerships between and among different agencies to further intensify its COVID-19 management and vaccination campaign, the Provincial Government of Davao Oriental bagged the Most Excellent in Multisectoral Collaboration Award.
Dr. Yumang encouraged the provincial government to continue strengthening its partnership with the department to deliver safe, effective, accessible vaccines for all Filipinos.
New Equipment, New Services
Aside from getting recognitions, the provincial government also received new sets of Ophthalmological and Dental equipment from the Department of Health through its Health Enhancement Program (HEP).
These new sets of health equipment are anticipated to improve the services of the Davao Oriental Provincial Medical Center. With the new ophthalmological equipment, DOPMC will revive its free cataract extraction every Thursday.
Moreover, the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians Incorporated, through the Family Medicine Team Head of DOPMC, headed by Family and Community Medicine Training Officer Dr. Cinderela P. Baruiz, handed the plaque of recognition to Gov. Malanyaon for the completion of her flagship program called 2022-2024 Family and Community Medicine Residency Training Program Level 3.
Gov. Malanyaon expressed her gratitude to the DOH for pouring out recognitions, awards, and additional health equipment that would enhance the services of the DOPMC. She also thanked the Family Medicine Team for unselfishly putting themselves into realizing her aspirations, specifically to the province’s health sector.
She also encouraged everybody to take part in PinasLakas campaign and invited people to get boosted against COVID-19 so that hospitals would not be overwhelmed by the cases. She emphasized that with more people being vaccinated, they can focus more on bouncing back the economy and loosen up community restrictions due to quarantine protocols.
“As we can see, our vaccines are gaining widespread success in fighting COVID-19. Let’s realize our planned steps to overcome the pandemic and bounce back better. Together, I believe this global health menace is coming to an end,” Gov. Malanyaon said. By Van Jorain O. Rufin | Photos by Van Jorain Rufin, Mark Alvite
