Cebu City starts rollout of second dose of COVID-19 vaccine

In this March 2021 photo, people register to be vaccinated in Cebu City. | file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City has started on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, the distribution of the second dose of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines to the first batch of A1 priority group, or medical frontliners, who were already vaccinated last March.

Doctor Jeffrey Ibones, the officer-in-charge of Cebu City Health, said they inoculated 106 medical front liners for the second dose of Sinovac vaccines.

Those who got the AstraZeneca shots will have to wait for a while for a new shipment of the vaccines to arrive.

So far, Ibones said there had been no incidents of severe allergies or reactions from the 106 inoculated individuals and they hope to keep the pace running for the second dose while simultaneously rolling out for the first dose of the vaccines.

“Atong paninguhaon nga madungan nato ang second dose sa mga seniors. So far paspas raman ang second dose, dali ra siya idungan sa first dose seniors nato,” said Ibones in a phone conference with reporters.

(We will try our best to do the second dose and the vaccination of the seniors together. So far, doing the second dose is fast, it can be done together with the first dose of the seniors.)

Read: Close to 5k seniors got 1st dose of COVID vaccine in Cebu City

As of now, at least 8,000 senior citizens and 20,000 medical frontliners have been vaccinated here, for a total of 28,000 vaccinated individuals.

Meanwhile, the city government has been overwhelmed by 31,000 registrations of the A3 priority group or people with comorbidities.

Ibones said that the reason the registration is higher than that of the senior citizens is that most A3 individuals are younger and have access to the internet, allowing them to register online.

Most A3 individuals are also in the working class and are more informed on the vaccination program and the priorities of the vaccination compared to the older generation.

With this growing support from the A3 group, Ibones hopes that they will be able to vaccinate more people, especially that these individuals are likely to suffer a more threatening form of the COVID-19 because of preexisting conditions.

The rollout will be simultaneous with senior citizens and the A3, which will be scheduled in the afternoons at three vaccination sites: UC-Banilad Campus, Robinsons Galleria Cebu, and SM Seaside City Cebu.

A3 individuals must bring a prescription or medical certificate as proof of their comorbidities aside from the usual identification card (ID) and ballpen upon arriving at the vaccination site.

Ibones said that as of today, there are at least 6,000 available vaccines to be rolled out to the A2 and A3 priority groups. The roll-out will continue in the next days until all available vaccines are consumed.

/bmjo