Local campaign season seen to pull down vaccination rates

MANILA, Philippines — Fewer people are expected to line up for vaccination against COVID-19 as the campaign season for local elections sets in, the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) said yesterday.

“We anticipate the possibility of having fewer outputs of the local government units (LGUs) because of the elections and campaign,” NVOC co-lead Keiza Lorraine Rosario said during a public briefing, noting that local campaigning begins on March 25.

Rosario said this is one of the reasons why the government is looking for other ways to administer COVID-19 jabs.

Under the vaccination roll-out program, LGUs are the lead implementers of the COVID-19 jabs as they are the ones in the grassroots.

But the idea now, said Rosario, is to make the LGUs oversee vaccination activities to ensure the continuity of the program.

“This means the workforce will not be totally dependent on the LGUs,” she said.

One strategy being eyed is to vaccinate in economic zones and workplaces, which is a targeted approach that will be “more granular to each LGU,” Rosario said.

“We are understanding the intricacies per area, unlike before when… we have similar implementation. We are planning to hold special vaccination days in certain areas,” she added.

The government also intends to focus on regions and provinces that have low vaccination coverage.

At present, Cebu province posted the lowest vaccination rate while the regions with the lowest coverage are the Bangsamo Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and Regions 4-B (Mimaropa), 5 (Bicol), 12 (Soccsksargen) and 7 (Central Visayas).