Cebu City ready for ‘National Vax Days’ on Feb.10 -12

A health worker prepares a dose of the BioNTech Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination for seafarers at a stadium in Manila on July 15, 2021. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)

CEBU CITY, Philippines — This early, the Cebu City government has already completed its preparations for another round of implementation of the “National Vaccination Days” here scheduled from February 10 to 12, 2022.

Doctor Jeffrey Ibones, head of the City Health Department (CHD), said they are coordinating with the different sectors for the massive vaccination drive here.

“All set na ta. Nagmeeting mi gabii para sa sites kay butangan gyod natog computers, kay kung mahimo og encode. Iencode gyod nato kay daghan na ra ba tag backlog. Ang supplies, police, importante kaayo na sa nga tanan,” said Ibones.

(All is set. We had a meeting last night to discuss preparations at the different sites because we will be placing computers in these ares for encoding. We will be encoding everything to prevent additional backlogs. The supplies, police are also very important [in our preparations.])

Cebu City has identified 36 to 37 different sites which they will use as venue for the three-day campaign.  All of these sites will have the needed resources like manpower, equipment, and vaccine supply.

The city had its first round of massive vaccination drive from November 28 to 30, 2021 and managed to administer at least 100, 000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

READ: Cebu City exceeds target in Nat’l Vax Days with 100K doses administered

During the second round of its implementation that will start on Thursday, Ibones said, each of the vaccination sites will have its own storage facility so vaccines can be delivered ahead of schedule.

Tentative sites for the massive vaccination campaign include South Western University, University of Cebu College of Nursing Building, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), Visayas Community Medical Center (VCMV), Cebu Doctors Hospital and possibly the University of San Jose-Recoletos and Velez College.

CHD will be releasing final details for its National Vax Days soon.

Meanwhile, Ibones said, the city is also preparing for the actual start of the vaccination for children aged 5 to 11-year-old  on February 14, 2022.  This will be held at the Cebu City Sports Complex and within the complex of one of the private hospitals here.

Ibones said children with comorbidities will have to be vaccinated in a hospital setting.

CHD also plans to make the vaccination sites for minors look as comfortable and engaging as possible by putting up posters or images of cartoons characters as decoration to entertain children and to distract them while they are being jabbed.

“Ang mga bata hilig og cartoon characters, mga heroes. Mao atong paninduton ang sites. Ilahi nato ang ambiance,” said Ibones.

(Children love cartoon characters, heroes. This is the reason why we wanted to make the sites look appealing. We will be changing the ambiance in these areas.)

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