{"id":353503,"date":"2021-10-12T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T20:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=353503"},"modified":"2021-10-12T06:00:48","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T20:00:48","slug":"over-10k-still-unvaccinated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/over-10k-still-unvaccinated\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 10K still unvaccinated"},"content":{"rendered":"

The high number of unvaccinated individuals in the CNMI\u2014estimated at over 10,000 individuals\u2014is still a cause for concern, according to Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a last Friday.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the radio as part of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres\u2019 weekly media briefing, Mu\u00f1a said that 87% of the CNMI\u2019s eligible adults have so far already received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, but there are still over 10,000 unvaccinated individuals in the CNMI.<\/p>\n

While an 80% vaccinated threshold has been the CNMI\u2019s goal in order to start claiming herd immunity against COVID-19, the focus now is on reducing the number of unvaccinated individuals who are at risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to see an increase in [vaccination] numbers, of course. We always talk about herd immunity, but really the [goal] is to try to minimize infection and death within the community. We\u2019re urging everyone, and if you know someone that has not been vaccinated, please continue to urge them [to] get vaccinated. It is free, it is easy, and it\u2019ll take [around] 10 minutes to enroll in the system,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Esther Mu\u00f1a<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Herd immunity refers to a form of indirect disease\/infection protection that is achieved when a certain percentage of a population has become immune to an infection either through vaccination or past exposure to an infection\/disease, reducing the chances of community spread and allowing those with no immunity to remain healthy without receiving a vaccine shot or being exposed to the disease.<\/p>\n

In the case of the CNMI\u2019s third COVID-19-related death, Mu\u00f1a said the patient \u201cmet the criteria to be discharged. Unfortunately, he did return [to the Commonwealth Health Center] ] and had more complications related to COVID-19-pneumonia.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Oct. 7, CHCC announced that the case involved a vaccinated male and CNMI resident with underlying health conditions who passed away sometime in October. He was identified by travel screening and tested positive for COVID-19 in August. He was admitted to the hospital, deemed recovered, and was discharged from CHC in early September. The man was then readmitted to CHC shortly after due to complications related to COVID-19 pneumonia.<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1a said that she and the CNMI\u2019s other health policy leaders will continue to maintain due diligence, and continue to protect the CNMI from the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be extra careful, [and] we want to continue to do our due diligence to protect the CNMI from [spreading COVID-19] into the community, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been trying to do. As [Office of the Governor chief of staff William M. Castro and Gov. Ralph DLG Torres] have said, we are safe, but we\u2019re not safe if we are opening our borders without any protocols that protect us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The high number of unvaccinated individuals in the CNMI\u2014estimated at over 10,000 individuals\u2014is still a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":353504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-353503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}