Scenes during the ceremonial rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in Cebu City held at the University of Cebu (UC) – Senior High campus on Monday, May 17, 2021. | Photos courtesy of Radyo Pilipinas – Cebu
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Local health officials here in Cebu on Monday, May 17, 2021, kicked off the ceremonial rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines.
At least 60 individuals participated in Monday’s ceremony, which was held at the new vaccination site for Cebu City- the University of Cebu (UC) – Senior High Campus along J. Alcantara Street in Barangay Sambag 1.
The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) and the Cebu City Health Department (CCHD) led the activity on Monday.
“For this event, we used 60 doses. We have 10 vials here. And one vial is equivalent to six doses,” said Dr. Jeffrey Ibones, Cebu City Health Officer, in Cebuano.
Ibones said those who received the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have already been listed through the city’s online vaccination registration site.
They are individuals classified under A1, A2, and A3, which refer to medical frontliners, senior citizens, and people with co-morbidities, respectively under the Philippine National Deployment Plan for COVID-19 vaccines.
Central Visayas received the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines last week, with 29,000 doses.
Of this, 5,800 were allocated for Cebu City, said Ibones.
“After the ceremonial rollout, we’re targeting to vaccinate 1,000 individuals with Pfizer-BioNTech per day,” Ibones said.
“And we would also like to tell the public only those who already registered online and will not hesitate in receiving the dose can receive the Pfizer shots. We will not allow walk-ins,” he added.
It can be recalled that DOH-7 earlier said Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines could only be used within highly urbanized cities, since these needed ultra-low refrigeration.
The Philippines, on May 10, received its first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines through the COVAX global facility by the World Health Organization.
The vaccine brand is manufactured by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and German-based biotechnology firm BioNTech SE.
/bmjo
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