DAVAO CITY - A total of 384 members of indigenous peoples (IP) communities in Barangay Magsaysay of Marilog District here have received their anti-coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines, the Public Safety and Security Command Cluster (PSSCC) said Tuesday. In a statement, Angel Sumagaysay, head of PSSCC, said the inoculation was administered on November 19 through the cooperation of the IP community and religious leaders following a consultative meeting conducted in the area to disseminate added information about the benefits of vaccination. "The area is very far and our city's information dissemination on the vaccination does not properly reach them. Through our purok leaders and the informed religious heads, we were able to explain to them well and we can now see a good turnout," he said. He added the vaccination drive was administered to the members of Ovu Manuvu, Giangan, Matigsalug, and Tagabawa tribes. Meanwhile, Dr. Jethro Biolanco, the district's health physician, said they did not expect a high turnout of vaccinees in the IP community. "We did not expect to cater these numbers, we only expected 200, but so far we exceeded that expectation. We are thankful to all the support agencies who helped us," he said. Matarin Lipantao, 79, a member of the Matigsalug tribe, said it was important to be vaccinated against the virus. "I wanted to be vaccinated to ensure that I won't have Covid-19 and my whole family also got vaccinated because we want to help the government," she said in the vernacular. Lipantao also advised those who are still hesitant to get vaccinated to believe in the effectiveness of the vaccines and dismiss wrong information. "We need to have faith and believe in those who administer these jabs because they won't inject it if it can harm us and could lead us to death," she added. The city government is expected to roll out more consultative meetings in far-flung areas and arm people with sufficient and truthful information to drive away vaccine hesitancy, as it aims to inoculate the 1.2 million target population by the end of the year. Apart from the cooperation of the IP leaders and their members, the successful vaccination rollout was also attributed to the cooperation of the City Health Office, PSSCC, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, and the Office of 3rd District Councilor Alberto Ungab. (PNA) }