COVID-19 vaccination at SM Seaside City Cebu. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City has vaccinated 17,522 residents since March 24, 2021, or over a month of the vaccine roll-out.
The Vaccination Operations Center (VOC) has recorded this on May 7, 2021, on the fifth day of the resumption of the roll-out for senior citizens (A2) and people with comorbidities (A3).
According to Dr. Jeffrey Ibones, officer-in-charge of the City Health Department (CHD), there has been a massive increase of individuals getting vaccinated this week.
He said that the A3 priority group has been very responsive to the program and most of them not only registered on the website but also agreed to get vaccinated.
This response from the A3 also encouraged the A2 priority group or senior citizens to get vaccinated increasing the number of seniors going to the sites.
“Mas responsive gyod atong people with comorbidities pero ato mang giprioritize ang seniors nya nakita nato nga mas daghan na moadto sa sites,” said Ibones.
(Those people with comorbities were more responsive but we also prioritized our seniors and we observed that more seniors are visiting the sites.)
In fact, on Friday, May 7, 2021, the three vaccination sites in the city recorded an average of 700 individuals each, which have been the most number of vaccinees in the past week.
As of now, there are only around 200 doses of the vaccines left, which means that the roll-out for the first doses will have to stop again by next week.
However, the sites will not close down as the second-dose of vaccines will continue to roll-out as well for the A1 priority group or medical frontliners.
“Nagsturya mi sa DOH (Department of Health), wala pa silay mahatag run. Paabot nalang usa ta pero padayon atong roll-out sa second dose,” said Ibones.
(We talked with DOH [Department of Health], they could not provide any supply of vaccines for now. We will just have to wait while we continue with our rollout for the second dose.)
The VOC is hoping that more individuals will register to the vaccine program so they can get the shot and the city can achieve herd immunity faster.
Ibones urged the public to wait for updates on the roll-out as well in case this would be stopped and when it would be resumed.
/dbs
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