MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur (PIA)--The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) is now toiling more to step up the vaccination program for coronavirus disease (COVID)-19.
This, as the province, sees the expansion of face-to-face classes in the upcoming school year 2022-2023.
IPHO Chief Dr. Alinader Minalang underscored that it is a major necessity to immunize first the personnel in schools to secure the efficient delivery of education.
“Vaccinating teachers and other essential staff in schools is a crucial component in this campaign to ensure that the region’s education system continues to deliver learning throughout the pandemic to avoid harmful learning losses,” he said.
Minalang stated that in line with the main aforementioned rationale are set guidelines to follow to permit an academic institution to spearhead in-person classes.
IPHO National Immunization Program Coordinator Adela Saidar outlined that among the requirements to be observed by schools include their location which must be in areas under Alert Level 1 or 2 and that only vaccinated teachers and school personnel shall be allowed to interact with learners.
Unvaccinated teachers and staff may still report on-site provided that they will not personally interact with learners.
Students, on the other hand, may partake in face-to-face classes regardless of their vaccination status although immunization is highly encouraged for everyone.
“Ito iyong magiging challenge natin sa mga guro na magpavaccine sila before magface-to-face [classes] kasi kung hindi sila bakunado, pwede sila maging carrier ng virus… [For students], more on health education ang ibigay natin sa kanila para naman maconvince sila na magpabakuna na,” said Saidar.
[This will be the challenge of our teachers which is to get themselves vaccinated before face-to-face [classes] because if they are unvaccinated, they can be carriers of the virus… [For students], let us give them more health education so that they can be convinced to get vaccinated.]
With the amplified implementation of vaccination efforts, Minalang reiterated their appeal of participation as he emphasized that this is not just a matter of mere protection to all residents but also protecting the lives of the children who are entrusted to the care of adults.
“I am encouraging everyone, especially our teachers and education personnel, to participate in our campaign, make careful decisions for vaccination to further intensify and advance our chances of safety returning to school,” he said.
As per the current record, the IPHO reported 267,553 or 40% of the eligible general population are fully vaccinated. For the pediatric population, 3,488 or 2% of the 220,096 children aging five to eleven years old received the full doses of their vaccine while 30,194 or 19% of children aging 12 to 17 years old are fully immunized. (CRG/PIA-Lanao del Sur)
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