In an effort to equalize the 70 percent population protection throughout Cebu Island, three medical groups have volunteered to inoculate residents in localities outside Metro Cebu, a health official said on Monday.

Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, Department of Health-Central Visayas (DOH-7) chief pathologist, said in her daily briefer that volunteers from the Philippine College of Physicians, Cebu Medical Society, and All-Terrain Medical Relief Organization (AMRO) are now travelling to different Cebu towns to vaccinate individuals.

Loreche said the groups employed not only doctors but also dentists, paramedics, and lay people who have medical background in visiting towns and cities outside Metro Cebu.

She commended the volunteers from the three groups for assisting local government units (LGU) achieve their own level of population protection against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“What can we do if we can achieve herd immunity in Metro Cebu but leave our surrounding LGUs without such population protection? So, it is not that feasible. It’s important (that) while we are activating and working on Metro Cebu’s 70 percent population protection, we need our province also to reach that level of communal protection, and this is the efforts of groups or volunteers,” she added.

The DOH-7 official urged LGUs in the northern and southern corridors of the province to ramp up their master listing of individuals who are eligible to take the Covid-19 vaccine considering that volunteer doctors are visiting their localities for mobile inoculation.

DOH-7 data showed that the cities of Bogo in the north and Carcar in the south developed a master list of a good number of eligible individuals.

The agency has not received any master listing report yet from the towns of Sibonga in the south and Liloan, Carmen, and Danao City in the north, she said.

The effort is targeting to inoculate 1,018,955 residents out of the 1.4 million population living in localities outside the Metro Cebu area, she added.

So far, 17 LGUs have master listed a combined total of 187,174 would-be vaccinees, or 18 percent of the population who are eligible for the national vaccination rollout, DOH-7 record shows.

Loreche reported that Cebu LGUs, including the highly-urbanized cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu, have already administered 1,521,957 doses, with 911,011 for first dose and 610,946 for second dose. (PNA)