CHD plans to distribute vaccine forms during distribution of senior citizen financial assistance

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Health Department (CHD) plans to distribute vaccine forms during the distribution of financial assistance to senior citizens on June 26, 2021.

READ: Cash card, house-to-house distribution for senior citizen financial assistance on June 26

Doctor Jeffrey Ibones, the officer-in-charge of the CHD, said that they plan to use the financial distribution to also reach out to senior citizens who have not yet been vaccinated.

The CHD will be proposing the matter to the Acting Mayor Michael Rama. They will ask Rama to allow city health personnel to accompany the disbursement officers going house-to-house and convince senior citizens to be registered for the vaccination.

Ibones said they are hoping that by bringing the registration closer to the senior citizens, more will avail of the free vaccination, helping the city reach its target of inoculating 70 percent of the population faster.

So far, out of the 87,000 senior citizens, only around 25,000 have been vaccinated.

Recently, the Interagency Task Force (IATF) has allowed fully vaccinated senior citizens to go out of their homes even if they are beyond 65 years old.

READ:  Fully-vaccinated seniors in GCQ, MGCQ areas now allowed to go out, but…

Although no executive order was passed in Cebu City to adopt this new policy as Mayor Edgardo Labella remains under sick leave, Acting Mayor Rama has verbally instructed law enforcement to follow the IATF guidelines.

The CHD hopes this would encourage more senior citizens to get vaccinated.

As of now, the city has vaccinated at least 54,000 individuals for the first dose and 23,000 for the second dose. At least 206,000 have registered to the vaccination program as well.

/bmjo