Despite the lag in vaccine supply, Baguio City continues to beef up its vaccination capability to be prepared to expedite the program once vaccine supply and production issues got resolved.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the city aims to expand its vaccination schedule, put up more sites to reach as many target population, assign and train more personnel to man these sites, and to further streamline the process to cut down the vaccination time.
He said the city will increase its vaccination target from 70 to 95 percent to really establish herd immunity.
The City Health Services Office upgraded the target from 70 to 85 percent pegging the total target population now at 238,776 individuals from the previous 196,639.
This is computed from the city’s estimated total population of 374,550 less persons below 18 years old at 25 percent.
Asst. City Health Officer Celia Flor Brillantes reported to the management committee last July 13 that the vaccination schedule has been expanded to cover all days of the week at the five mega sites at the Saint Louis University, University of Baguio, Saint Louis School Inc. at St. Vincent, SM City Baguio, and the Baguio Country Club.
She said more vaccination sites will be set up in the coming days including district and satellite vaccination sites to reach as many target population.
To prepare for this, the CHSO has been training volunteers from both the government and the private sector to man the sites.
Brillantes said they also continue to review and readjust the vaccination process to further speed up the procedures and increase vaccination coverage.
The mayor earlier ordered the ramping up of the city’s vaccination rate to counter the anticipated surges in Covid-19 cases due to increased mobility, reopening to tourists and the threat of the more harmful variants but the lack of vaccines snagged said plans prompting the mayor to appeal for more patience from residents raring to be vaccinated. – Aileen P. Refuerzo
April 24, 2024
