Mandaue to use public schools, gyms as vaccination sites

Subangdaku Barangay Captain Ernie Manatad, the president of the Association of Barangay Council and chairman of Mandaue City’s vaccine board, | CDN Digital photo by Mary Rose Sagarino

MANDAUE CITY, Philippines – The Mandaue City COVID-19 vaccine board has decided to use the city’s public schools instead of the health centers as vaccination sites.

Subangdaku Barangay Captain Ernie Manatad, Association of Barangay Council President and chairman of the city’s vaccine board, said they decided to conduct the vaccination in public schools or barangay gymnasiums but not in the barangay health centers.

Manatad said they were worried that social distancing may not be followed in the health centers as those are not so big.

They also plan to cluster small barangays and just choose one school to serve as a vaccination site.

“As we saw the physical set up of the vaccination pose murag wala gyud tawn space (health centers). Ang eskwelahan manggud naa nay mga rooms ba so mas dili na ta magkinahanglan maghimo pa og cubicles, every step of the way naa ka kani step 1 kani nga room, step 2, step 3, 4,5 step 6 man kutob so at least og naay pila na diri ka room kay bakante pa man kay wala pa may klase ma accommodate ra sa public schools,” said Manatad.

Manatad further announced that they have no plans yet to purchase Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines due to the Department of Health’s (DOH) commitment to provide vaccines for 70 percent of the city’s population.

He said the business sector will also provide free vaccines to city ​​hall.

The city’s allocation for the vaccination program will be used to purchase medical supplies and logistics support to be used once the vaccination begins.

Manatad said they would also conduct a simulation of COVID-19 mass vaccination soon.

Meanwhile, Manatad said they have yet to know if there would be allotted COVID-19 vaccines for the city following the arrival of the second batch of the vaccines on Friday morning in Cebu.

Manatad said they have already masterlisted about 1,616 and counting health frontliners in the city including those working in the private clinics. /rcg