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LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines — The Lapu-Lapu City government is willing to provide transportation to its residents, who wish to be vaccinated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine, Pfizer BioNTech.
Currently, the Department of Health (DOH)-7 has only established limited vaccination sites for the Pfizer vaccine due to its complicated temperature requirements.
The vaccination site for the Pfizer vaccine includes the University of Cebu (UC) senior high campus at J. Alcantara St., Cebu City, and Chong Hua Hospital in Mandaue City.
Chan, however, said that they would master list first those who would be vaccinated with Pfizer, which would be taken from the A2 and A3 priority groups consisting of senior citizens and persons with comorbidities, respectively.
“Wala ta’y freezer for Pfizer, so mas maayo kung adto na lang gyud sa Chong Hua ang vaccination. So ang city na lang maoy mo-provide og transportation paingon ngadto sa Chong Hua,” Chan said.
(We don’t have a freezer for Pfizer vaccines, so it would be better that the vaccination be held in Chong Hua. So what the city will do is we will just provide the transportation going to Chong Hua.)
DOH-7 spokesperson Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, for her part, said that since Pfizer would require a temperature of negative 80 degrees centigrade, the vaccine would need to be consumed within five days to prevent it from being spoiled.
“Importante kaayo ang logisitics ani niya that we have the capacity to store it at minus 80 degrees. And then ang pagdala pa gyud ani niya dayon, kasi when you transport it, there will be a change in temperature already. So that’s why in Region 7, we only identified places that can actually be a vaccination center for Pfizer,” Loreche said.
(The logistics is important for this and that we have the capacity to store it at minus 80 degrees Celsius. And then, to deliver it to the vaccination site because when you transport it, there will be a change in temperature already. So that’s why in Region 7, we only identified places that can actually be a vaccination center for Pfizer.)
DOH-7 has only allocated more than a thousand doses of Pfizer to Lapu-Lapu City.
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