MANILA, Philippines – In an effort to reach its target of 70 million fully vaccinated Filipinos by the end of March, the government is seeking to implement special vaccination days in the province of Cebu and in certain areas in Mindanao.

During the Laging Handa briefing on Saturday, March 19, Dr. Kezia Lorraine Rosario, co-lead of the National Vaccination Operations Center, said they are “moving more granularly,” understanding the intricacies in local government units, and focusing vaccination efforts in areas where many are still unvaccinated. (READ: PH to shift focus of vaccine drive to mobile, house-to-house jabs)

She said that the team under Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje is eyeing the implementation of special vaccination days in certain areas.

“Ang pinagpaplanuhan ng team namin with Undersecretary Myrna is most likely before the end of the month, may special vaccination days gagawin sa Cebu province, kasi ang Cebu province ‘yung pinakamataas na with unvaccinated na province,” she said.

(What our team is planning with Undersecretary Myrna is to conduct special vaccination days before the end of the month in Cebu province because it is the province with the highest unvaccinated population.)

“We are also looking at the areas in Mindanao, specifically Lanao del Sur, the BARMM areas, [all the provinces in the] BARMM, and also certain provinces in Region XII. So ito ‘yung tutukan natin kasi most likely dito pa ‘yung mga large populations na hindi pa nababakunahan (So these are the areas we will focus on because most likely these are where large populations still haven’t been vaccinated),” she added.

At least 63,092,684 in the country have been fully vaccinated as of February 27, representing 80.78% of the target population.

As of February 13, 28% of the regional target in BARMM, 64.5% of the regional target in Central Visayas, and 61.2% of the regional target in Soccsksargen have been fully vaccinated.

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