NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
Bohol Inter Agency Task Force on the management of Emerging Infectious Disease spokesperson recently said it would take Bohol another 2 to 3 years to achieve herd immunity against coronavirus disease (COVID), if the same situation right now persists.
Speaking during a radio interview and aired over a local radio station, BIATF spokesperson Dr. Cesar Tomas Lopez said if Bohol does not use satellite vaccination teams and if supplies of vaccines continue to be scarce, then Bohol would still have to physically deal with the COVID threat.
The situation is even complicated by the fact that at 11,339 confirmed COVID cases, some 245 have died, or 2.1 percent of those who got infected with the disease die.
COUNTRY STATISTICS
For the whole country, the average is way below at 1.7%.
This means that while in the country, 1.7 in every 100 COVID cases die, in Bohol, the figure is 2.1.
In this situation, even when Bohol puts up more and more vaccination teams, everything is still dependent on the availability of the vaccines which can be had if these also arrive in the country.
At the current vaccine arrival rate, Bohol has since averaged 53,670 doses per month, a figure taken from March 6 to September 6.
RECORD TO DATE VACCINATION
To date, the Provincial Health Office has reported 322,020 vaccine doses still available as of 11 PM of August 19.
Since March 6, Bohol vaccination teams have given complete protection or two doses of the two-dose vaccines and a single dose of the Johnson and Johnsons vaccine to 137,250.
They have also given first doses to 115,133 individuals who would be getting their second doses in less than a month’s time.
In the last five months and a couple of weeks, Bohol vaccination teams have inoculated 252,383 Boholanos for their first and second doses.
The 137,250 individuals who have been given full protection from the disease are still 43.50 % of the master listed medical and health frontline workers, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities and essential workers.
With a population of 1,394,329 in Bohol, health authorities need to get to 976,030 to attain the target 70% vaccination for the entire population.
Epidemiologists have said that if a community attains 70% vaccination against COVID for its citizens, they would have attained herd immunity.
By herd immunity, it means the disease stops from infecting people because by then, the virus can not anymore get to anybody because most of them are already protected.
At 137,250 fully vaccinated Boholanos, the figure is still 14.06 percent of the 70% population.
The number of fully vaccinated individuals however is already 32.81 % of the 30% population intended to be vaccinated to attain at least a leveling off of infections or what medical authorities term as flattening the curve.
By flattening the curve, it means that the community which vaccinated 30% of its constituents will experience no more new vases, although the figures flatten out.
By attaining 50% vaccination of a local population, the community can already experience a downtrend in cases, and deaths. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)