The Tisa Barangay Gym is jampacked with people who want their COVID-19 vaccines during the 1st day of the National Vaccination Days in Cebu City on Monday, November 29, 2021. | Contributed Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines– Cebu City will be extending its intensified vaccinations beyond the National Vaccination Days.
Mayor Michael Rama is mulling to extending the vaccination activities of some sites beyond December 1, 2021.
He said he will be meeting with the city’s convergence group to discuss the possibility of these certain sites continuing operating so people can still access them in the coming days.
The mayor has been encouraged with the good outcome of the last two days with the numbers now up to more than 60,000 inoculated individuals for two days alone as of noon of Wednesday.
The city expects another 30,000 individuals for the third day, which means that the city could vaccinate at least 90,000 individuals, or even reach its 96,000 target.
Rama said the city government is capable of reaching its target population by the end of the year.
“Why not? We have 21 (existing) sites, nya mapun-an pa gyod na. Kaya na nato,” said the mayor.
The target of Cebu City is to have all eligible residents vaccinated by December 31, 2021, so by 2022, all establishments can reopen freely.
Doctor Jeffrey Ibones, the City Health Department (CHD) officer-in-charge, said that they will be improving the vaccination system after the National Vaxx Days.
They have seen that paperwork cause a lot of delays in the vaccination process especially since each individual has four forms to fill out, which means that encoders also need to input these forms to the online data.
The CHD will be looking for ways to optimize the paperwork to perhaps reduce them in the future, if possible.
Still, he commended all sites for successfully holding the three-day vaccination.
“Naopen nato ang nobenta ka sites. Dili ta perfect, especially sa personnel ug volunteers kay dili man ta kapugos nila if moingon silag dili sila kaanha. Sige lang, nagpasalamat ta sa atong mga volunteers,” said Ibones.
For the continued vaccination for the remaining population, Ibones said they are hoping for more volunteers since some local government units have already completed their vaccinations.
Ibones said it doesn’t matter if the number of sites that will continue to operate after the National Vaxx Days will no longer be 90. He said what’s more important is that the remaining sites are in strategic locations.
The CHD will cluster barangays that still have the remaining unvaccinated population so they can put up sites catering to these barangays.
This way, the city may eventually reach the target of 700,000 individuals to reach herd immunity by year’s end. /rcg
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