BARMM religious leaders join battle vs. vaccine hesitancy

Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) chief minister Ahod Ebrahim said Wednesday that religious leaders have joined the drive to convince people in the region to get vaccinated.

At the Laging Handa briefing, Ebrahim said he hopes the residents will heed the influence of the religious to take away the hesitancy of many that accounted for the low vaccination rate in the region.

“BARMM is doing its best to reach our target and soon reach the herd immunity,” he said.

A total of 246,061 or 7 percent of the target population in the region are partially vaccinated; 880,821 or 18 percent are fully vaccinated; and 62,272 have received their booster doses.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government earlier said the government will focus the vaccination in the BARMM and “inaccessible areas” during the third wave of its mass vaccination drive.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the vaccination rate is lowest in BARMM among all regions in the country.

“Unang una talaga ‘yung pinakamababa nating rehiyon diyan ‘yung BARMM. Talagang nasa 30 percent pa lang, so malaki pa dapat ‘yung hahabulin,” he said.

As of February 17, 2022, around 62.2 million people were already fully vaccinated from the COVID-19 virus. This includes those who received single-dose vaccines.

Roughly 61.55 million people were still waiting for their second dose of the vaccine. Meanwhile, about 9.49 million already received a booster shot.

COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines started in March 2021.—LDF, GMA News