No vax rollout in Cebu City on July 7 until further notice

COVID-19 vaccination center at SM Seaside City Cebu. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Cebu City has been paused once again.

Councilor Dave Tumulak on Tuesday, July 6, confirmed that the city has used up all of its 14,920 doses of COVID-19 vaccines recently allocated by the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7).

As a result, Tumulak said there will be no inoculations made in all five vaccination centers starting tomorrow, July 7 until further notice.

On Tuesday, the city has administered its remaining 600 doses of CoronaVac, Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine brand, he said.

“Amo lang gipahibawo sa katawhan dinhi sa dakbayan nga magpaabot ta og dunay mga bakuna nga moabot then ato lang gihapon ipahibawo gihapon sa media og kanus-a na sad pagasugdan nato ang atong pagpamakuna,” Tumulak added.

(We would like to inform the public that the city will be waiting for the next batch of vaccines, and once new doses arrive, we will also announce to the media when the rollout will resume.)

Turnout in Cebu City’s vaccination drive has recently increased, as local officials reported administering a daily average of 4,500 doses since the first week of July.

Tumulak also said walk-ins also contributed to the fast consumption of vaccines in all five vaccination sites in the city.

But as Cebu City experiences a new surge of new COVID-19 cases, he urged individuals wanting to get themselves inoculated against the infection to register ahead and wait for their schedule.

“Kay karon nisaka man atong kaso sa COVID, mangayo mi og pasaylo sa katawhan. Atong gilimitahan ang gidaghanon sa mga tawo nga mosulod sa mga vaccination center mentras misaka ang kaso ug ato silang pahinumduman always observe social distancing”, explained Tumulak.

(Now that the number of COVID-19 cases are rising, we would like to apologize to the public for these inconveniences. We have limited the crowd inside our vaccination centers, and always remind them to observe social distancing as precautionary measures.)

Cebu City’s five vaccination centers are the Banilad and J. Alcantara Street campuses of the University of Cebu, SM Seaside City Cebu, Robinsons Galleria, and NOAH Complex in the South Road Properties (SRP).

There are over 280,000 individuals who signed up online for the city government’s vaccination drive as of July 5.

Of this number, at least 85,000 have received their 1st dose while 25,000 already completed their inoculation schedule after being administered with the 2nd dose. /rcg

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