Lapu-Lapu City masterlists frontliners for COVID-19 vaccines

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard ‘Ahong’ Chan leads Oponganons during today’s (March 3) simulation for the COVID-19 vaccination at the Barangay Pajo gymnasium. | CDN DIgital Photo by Futch Anthony Inso

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines – The Lapu-Lapu City Government has already masterlisted 1,023 healthcare medical frontliners who will first receive the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines.

Mae Cheryll Tepait, the national immunization program nurse coordinator of Lapu-Lapu City Health Department (LCHD), said that this is only 43% of the total 2,969 healthcare medical frontliners that they’ve identified.

She revealed that currently, they are now requiring masterlisted individuals to submit some documents after they’ve given their consent to get immunized.

Tepait said that based on her monitoring, around 75% of workers from the Lapu-Lapu City Hospital and 80% of those from Sta. Rosa Hospital in Olango Island has already agreed to receive the vaccine.

But out of 560 healthcare medical workers in a private hospital in Barangay Agus, only 85 have expressed to participate in the city’s vaccination program.

“But we continue to convince other health workers to participate in the vaccination,” Tepait said.

On Wednesday morning, March 3, 2021, the Lapu-Lapu City Government has conducted a simulation for the COVID-19 vaccination.

But as of the moment, Dr. Agnes Realiza, head of the LCHD, said they don’t know yet the exact date of when they can start the actual vaccination.

Realiza, however, said that they were satisfied with the result of the simulation.

She said that the vaccination procedure only took 15 to 17 minutes, which includes the registration, screening, and administering of vaccine, and additional 30 minutes for the post-vaccination assessment of the possible adverse effects of the vaccine.

“We are targeting 70 to 100 individuals to be administered of the vaccine per day once the actual vaccination will already start,” Realiza.

Department of Health (DOH)-7 spokesperson Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, who was there to observe the simulation, also said that she was satisfied with how the activity went.

She, however, recommended to the Lapu-Lapu City Government to deploy additional doctors in the vaccination area; give the patients privacy after being vaccinated; and identify the number of hours in transporting a patient from the vaccination area to a hospital, especially if an adverse effect will be seen from a patient after being vaccinated. /rcg