CHD to Cebu City residents: Take advantage of ‘Toktok Bakuna’ program

A student from one of the colleges in Cebu City gets his COVID-19 dose. | File photo / CDN Digital

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Still unvaccinated?

Have yourself inoculated through Cebu City’s Toktok Bakuna program or the city’s home vaccination program.

Dr. Jeffrey Ibones, head of the Cebu City Health Department (CHD), said they are now implementing an intensified version of the program that was launched in 2021 and was designed to especially cater to the senior citizens, persons with comorbidities and those who are sick or bedridden to make sure that they are protected against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

READ: Cebu City launches home vaccination program

“Karon ato nalang g’yod gi-intensify. Example muadto ta’g sitio, naay mga tawo nato nga muadto’s mga balay-balay, manuktok sila. ilang awhagon nga magpabakuna diha sa ilang sitio. Mahug gud ni siyang sitio-sitio,” he told CDN Digital in a phone interview on Sunday, June 19, 2022.

(Now, we are trying to intensify the program’s implementation. For example, our vaccinators will be visiting the different sitios for a house-to-house visit, they will be knocking on doors.  They will encourage sitio residents to have themselves vaccinated.  This is a sitio level initiative.)

Ibones said their vaccination team visited Barangay Lahug and Barangay Talamban in Cebu City’s north district last week.

The Toktok Bakuna program is scheduled from Mondays to Saturdays and are sometimes on extended to Sundays, if needed.

READ: Cebu City hopes to move COVID-19 vaccination to barangay health centers

Ibones said their vaccinators can administer the primary COVID-19 vaccine shots, which includes the first and second doses  and booster shots.

The current available vaccine brands that are used for the program are Pfizer and Moderna.

Meanwhile, Ibones admitted that aside from having some senior citizens who continue to refuse COVID-19 vaccines, there are also family members who do not want their elderly members to be inoculated because of fear of possible side effects.

He said that they will just have to continue to convince these individuals that COVID-19 vaccines are safe.

“Ako lang ika-sulti sa atong mga senior citizens nga safe ra g’yod nga magpabakuna mo. Ang katong wala pa ka pa booster, please magpa booster na ta kay naay study nga ang atong vaccine, ang effectivity muhinay,” he said.

(I tell the senior citizens that vaccination is safe. For those who are yet to get their booster shots, please do so because vaccines become less effective [without the booster shot].)

To date, Ibones said, at least 70 percent of their target population already received the COVID-19 vaccine.

Still, they plan to continue to intensify their inoculation drive to reach the remaining 30 percent of their target population.

He said the city government initially targeted to vaccinate about 700,000 eligible individuals.  But the City has so vaccinated more than 800,000 residents.

Their count include those who opted to receive their first dose here, but had their second dose in other local government units (LGU) or those who had their first dose elsewhere and their second those here.

Ibones added that there vaccination program for Department of Education (DepEd)-endorsed individuals is still ongoing.

“Ilang mga estudyante, mga personnel, or even parents in partnership with DepEd (Cebu City Division). Muingon sila namo asa mi muadto nga eskwelahan. Nahuman naman nato ang mga mountain barangays, diri na sad ta sa low-land barangays,” he added.

(This include students, personnel and even parents in partnership with DepEd.  They just tell us which schools to visit. We already completed vaccination in schools located in the city’s mountain barangays and we are now trying to focus on schools that are located in the low-land barangays.)

READ: Mandaue City to focus more on sitio-based vaccination