Mindanaotoday.com | DOH-10: 80% of active cases in NorMin unvaxxed
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Eight of every 10 patients infected with coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Northern Mindanao are unvaccinated, a health agency official said in a forum in Cagayan de Oro Friday, August 5, this year.
Dr. David Mendoza, Department of Health-10 local support services chief, in a KonsulTayo launch at SM City Uptown mall, said 80 percent of 460 active Covid-19 cases on Thursday have not been vaccinated.
A Covid-19 briefer the DOH-10 posted online that day showed 53 of those found infected needed hospital care, including the 32 admissions in Cagayan de Oro-based hospitals. All others were advised to self-isolate.
“About 10% of the active cases, who had their first and second doses, manifested either mild symptoms or asymptomatic,” said Mendoza, and that booster shots could have shielded them from infections.
He said vaccination – primary series and booster shots – forms part of the “double-up your protection” of BIDA information and education campaign, this time with a twist: Best-fitted masks, Isolate if sick, Double-up your protection, and Adequate air-flow or ventilation in rooms.
BIDA used to mean “Bawal walang mask, I-sanitize and mga kamay, Distansya ng isang metro, Aksyon sa tamang inpormasyon” when the pandemic broke out in March two years ago.
Dr. Wellaflor Kindom-Brito, DOH-10 infectious diseases cluster head, reinforced Mendoza’s BIDA explanation, by emphasizing that the DOH IEC is for all emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, including monkeypox virus.
Kindom-Brito said monkeypox infection, like measles and chickenpox, manifests itself through fever and rashes, except for swollen lymph nodes which may cause severe complications and are fatal.
Its virus may be transmitted through close contacts – lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials – with animals and humans.
In the same activity, Dr. Ellenietta Gamolo, DOH-10 assistant regional director and regional vaccination operation center head, said the twice-weekly KonsulTayo interactions with media is in support of their agency’s health education and promotion mandate.
Gamolo said there’s so much “fake news” including disinformation and misinformation on Covid-19, particularly on vaccination, and lately on monkeypox, hence they need to sustain their IEC strategies.
Vaccination, she said, is intended to prevent severe infection from Covid-19, including those whose last vaccine dose was over four months, thus requiring booster shots.
Gamolo said they will make sure only eligible individuals get the first and second boosters – which can be availed of by 50 years old and above.
Under the ongoing “PinasLakas” campaign, vaccines would be administered in varied settings – from hospitals and health centers to malls and schools, passenger terminals to work places, and villages to places of worship and even households.
“PinasLakas” is aiming to hit 50-percent coverage on booster shots and 90 percent for the senior-citizen sector, within 100 days from the time President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed office noon of June 30, this year.
Simultaneously launched on July 26, the reckoning time for most local governments in Northern Mindanao started August 1, the RVOC head said.
As of Friday, only Iligan has surpassed 90 percent of its SC population while Cagayan de Oro and Camiguin are catching up with over 80-percent coverages.
For all age-groups, the region has so far inoculated 72-percent of its eligible population – five years old and above.
Regional average on booster shots for five provinces and two highly-urbanized cities is only 28 percent and Cagayan de Oro is just over 30 percent, as of Friday. (MT)
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