| CDND photo / Morexette Marie Erram
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu City on Monday, November 8, started inoculating its adolescent population.
City Health Officer, Dr. Jeffrey Ibones, said they are targeting to administer COVID-19 vaccines to 500 children every day.
A brief ceremonial vaccination was held at Southwestern University (SWU) located along Urgello Street to welcome the first batch of children for the pediatric vaccination.
It was attended by Acting Mayor Michael Rama; Dr. Alfred Bongo Jr, president of the Philippine Pediatric Society in Central Visayas; representatives from the Department of Health; and SWU executives.
Ibones said they are aiming to vaccinate around 150,000 children, ages 12 to 17 years old, in the city.
But so far, only 14,000 have successfully registered in the city’s online vaccination portal.
On the other hand, the city is also planning to open two more sites dedicated for its pediatric vaccination rollout.
These are the J. Alcantara Street campus of the University of Cebu (UC) and Ayala Center Cebu.
“But we’re still ironing things out before we can start accommodating minors there. In Ayala, for example, they’re still administering the 2nd dose there,” said Ibones.
“Hopefully we might be able to open them in a week from now,” he added.