Vaccination for kids aged 5 to 11 years at a mall at the North Reclamation Area in Mandaue City. CDN Digital photo | Mary Rose Sagarino
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu—Hoping they could freely roam around soon, 237 kids in the 5 to 11 age group got jabbed with the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, February 14, 2022 at a mall at the North Reclamation Area.
Subangdaku Barangay Captain Ernie Manatad, chairman of the city’s vaccine board, said only a few of those scheduled to be vaccinated on the first day of inoculation for this age group didn’t show up.
Dr. Ligaya Lakambini Dargantes, deputy chief of the city’s Vaccination Operations Center, said 300 were supposedly scheduled to be vaccinated on Monday.
One of the 237 who showed up was nine-year-old Georgina, who was accompanied by her father, Charles Ong.
Georgina said she was not scared of the vaccination, although she did say she felt dizzy after.
She said she really wanted to get vaccinated “so I could go out.”
Charles Ong said they really wanted them to get vaccinated so the kids can be protected. All of them in their household are already vaccinated.
“Nagwait ra mi when sila pwede. It’s for protection purposes, we wanna make sure that they are vaccinated para in the event in the future sa mga activities, ma protected gyud sila,” said Ong.
(We just waited when they would be allowed to be vaccinated. It’s for protection purposes, we wanna make sure that they are vaccinated so that in the event in the future there will be activities, they are already protected.)
The city made sure kids were comfortable in the vaccination site. The site was filled with colorful balloons, while free loot bags were given. A photo booth also helped the children feel at ease.
With this, Dargantes said they did not have a difficult time in vaccinating the children, although there were still some who cried out of fear.
Dargantes said the vaccination post at the mall will still be catering to minors aged 5 to 11 this week, depending on the vaccine allocation.
The city initially received 3,000 vaccine doses good for 1,500 children, she said.
Dargantes said they are also planning to identify the University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu/Mandaue campus’ new building as another vaccination post for children aged 5 to 11.
/bmjo
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