Senior citizens wait for their turn to be vaccinated in this April 22, photo at the vaccination site at SM Seaside. | Delta Letigio (file photo)
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The number of vaccinated senior citizens is growing in Cebu City as the program continues to roll out in three sites in the city.
Yet the number of vaccine doses is limited and no new shipment has arrived in the region for now. In fact, less than a hundred doses are left for the three sites in the city today, April 23.
And as of 11:30 a.m., today, all the doses had been used and operations of all the vaccination sites were temporarily stopped, said Doctor Jeffrey Ibones, City Health Department officer-in-charge, told CDN Digital.
Ibones said that with the overwhelming response of the senior citizens in the past three days, the city was able to use all doses of the vaccines.
With no more doses, the sites would have to temporarily stop operations until more vaccines would arrive, Ibones said.
“Mahunong usa gyod ta kay wala naman tay available vaccines. Ato nalang ni tiwason karon,” said Ibones.
(We will have to temporarily stop [the vaccine rollout for senior citizens] because there are no more available vaccines. We will just finish all doses that are left today.)
READ: Another Cebu City vaccination site opens in SM Seaside
At past 10 a.m., the city government personnel reduced the number of vaccinees at Robinsons Galleria and controlled the number of who would get the doses because of the dwindling number of vaccine doses.
Most likely by noon, all three vaccination sites will be temporarily shut down. SM Seaside and UC Banilad sites have already been shut down at 11 a.m. today.
Ibones, however, at 11:30 a.m. said that all the vaccines had been used and the vaccination sites would be temporarily shut down because there were no more vaccines.
Ibones said he hoped that more vaccines would arrive in the next weeks so the city can continue to roll-out.
As it is, he urged senior citizens to be patient as the roll-out would continue immediately when more doses would arrive.
/dbs
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