THE Department of Health in Northern Mindanao is set to wind down its Covid-19 vaccination program by the end of this month amid challenges faced by disinformation and vaccine hesitancy.
During the vaccination period, medical frontliners went house to house to appeal to residents in far-flung villages in the region to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
In Pantar, Lanao del Norte, a team of nurses braved muddy trails, heat, and rains to reach the villages only to be turned away by villagers skeptical of the vaccine efficacy.
In its March 12, 2023 report, the DOH 10 had set the target population for vaccination in Pantar municipality to 16,489 residents. The town’s population based on the 2020 census is 26,599 residents.
Despite the efforts of the medical front liners, the DOH 10 said only 5,568 residents have their first dose of vaccine and only 4,914 residents got their second dose.
For the first booster shot, only 1,141 residents 12 years old and older had their shots and only 271 residents were given the second booster shot.
The DOH 10 said some 10,921 residents remained unvaccinated making Pantar municipality among the highest in Lanao del Norte province.
Pantar is among the 13 municipalities in Lanao del Norte’s 22 towns, which have high vaccine hesitancy among the residents. Most of these towns are located in the hinterlands of the province.
Some of the towns with high vaccine hesitancy are Sultan Naga Dimaporo with 20,278 residents unvaccinated; Munai with 15,693 unvaccinated; Poona Piagapo with 15,069 residents unvaccinated; Pantao Ragat, 12,404 unvaccinated; Magsaysay, 8,927 residents unvaccinated; and Kapatagan with 7,353 unvaccinated residents.
