CEBU CITY, Philippines—Vaccination for minors aged 5 to 11 years old has been temporarily stopped here due to the lack of vaccines.
Doctor Jeffrey Ibones, the head of the City Health Department (CHD), said that the city has used up all 2,800 doses of the vaccines for this age group.
Only 200 doses are left for the first dose that can be inoculated.
Another 3,000 are still in storage in Cebu City, but these are allocated for the second doses of the minors and will be released in 21 days.
It must be noted that the vaccines for younger minors are different with that of adults, as the dosage has been tweaked accordingly.
Because of the lack of supply of vaccines and fear that parents would be flocking the sites for nothing, the CHD temporarily halted the roll-out as they reorganize.
The city will roll-out the remaining 200 doses on Thursday, but only parents whose kids are scheduled for that day can be accommodated.
“Nitry mig hangyo nga gamiton nalang 3,000 pero niingon ang DOH (Department of Health) nga ayaw lang kay dali ra baya ang 21 days, dili nya sila ka replenish,” said Ibones.
(We tried to ask to use the 3,000 but the DOH said no because 21 days is too short, they mot night be able to replenish.)
With this, the city will request the DOH for additional doses so that they can resume the vaccination.
Ibones said that they are thankful that many parents accepted the vaccines.
In fact, over 9,000 younger minors have been registered by their parents for vaccination.
Mayor Michael Rama said in his Monday press conference on February 21, 2022, that he will be asking the DOH for more doses.
He said that if it is necessary to communicate with the national government, he will do so because the city is eager and has the capability to roll out more vaccines.
/bmjo
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