Mandaue to use automated texting for faster dissemination of vaccination schedules

A faster advisory about vaccination schedules will soon be available in Mandaue City with the plan of the city government to install automated texting.  | INQUIRER PHOTO

MANDAUE CITY, Philippines- The Mandaue City Government is planning to have automated texting for faster messaging of vaccination schedules to registrants.

As COVID-19 cases are continuously increasing and with the presence of the more transmissible Delta Variant, the number of individuals who wanted to be vaccinated has also increased.

Dr. Ligaya Lakambini Dargantes, head of the patient care and management team of Mandaue City’s Emergency Operations Center and deputy chief of the Vaccine Operation Center, said the city was planning to have automated texting for faster messaging of COVID registrants schedules.

Currently, the VOC personnel manually text the schedules of registrants.

Recently, some of the city’s residents complained online about not receiving a text from the VOC for about a month after their registration.

Dargantes explained that there were many reasons why there were delays in the schedules of vaccine registrants.

Dargantes said based on their investigation, registrants were already given schedules before but refused because they did not like the available vaccine brand.

She said that there’s also a possibility that the VOC personnel lost the names of some of the registrants.

“We did the masterlisting through our City Health Office later on gikuha sa ato IT system we also have the barangays gihatag sa amo. Katun’g wala natexsan ato pa man gud na i encode basin na lost to nato na names,” said Dargantes.

Dargantes said it would also depend on the instructions of the Department of Health on what categories would need to be prioritized.

Dargantes said a registrant would receive a text of his schedule about three weeks after his registration online and in the barangays.

She said they were now manually texting the schedules of those individuals who registered last July 1.

Dargantes said individuals who already registered but did not receive a text from the VOC yet may walk-in at the city’s vaccination sites but will be attended to later after the vaccination of scheduled registrants or will be a substitute for those who did not show up to their schedules.

Dargantes added that senior citizens and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) can walk in anytime at the city’s vaccination centers.     /rcg

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