THE city of Baguio has finally breached the 70 percent COVID-19 full vaccination coverage set as the minimum to achieve herd immunity, according to the City Health Services Office (CHSO).
As of Wednesday, November 17, Baguio City has logged 75.8 percent of its eligible adult population being fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 disease.
The total of fully vaccinated adults as of Wednesday comes to 212,390 of the 281,000 eligible population, while some 259,000 adults or around 91 percent have already received at least one dose of a two-dose vaccine.
CHSO head Dr. Rowena Galpo said that under the current rate of vaccination, should the city be able to vaccinate at least 800 persons each day for the rest of the year, the city can reach its ambitious 95 percent vaccination target for the year.
Meanwhile, the pediatric vaccination among the city’s younger residents has also achieved high turnouts, with 20,033 or 46.79% of the 42,811 eligible adolescent group aged 12 to 17 years old having received their first dose of the vaccine.
Galpo added that if all of the eligible adolescent population were to register and line up for the vaccine in full, the city can achieve full adolescent administration of the first dose of vaccine by December.
Galpo said the city has 127,597 total doses of Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer, and Gamaleya in its latest inventory. The city received 21,060 doses of Pfizer on November 6 and another 5,350 doses of AstraZeneca on November 8 from the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility.
Additionally, the Department of Health has provided the city with 27,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, in addition to the arrival of some 18,800 doses purchased by the city.
Seeing potential excess in vaccine supply, Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong has begun talking to other local governments in Benguet regarding the possibility of sharing excess doses.
