Mandaue City all set for community vaccination

CEBU, Philippines — Mandaue City is now ready for community vaccination for COVID-19 following the successful pilot testing of the first-ever community vaccination center at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex.

The pilot testing involved the vaccination of medical front liners and senior citizens and was declared by Inter-Agency Task Force-Visayas chief implementer retired Gen. Melquaides Feleciano a success.

“The flow that was set from the registration area up to the post vaccination area met the time and motion requirements. In its full capacity, it can vaccinate 800-900 individuals in 8 hours or 20,000 doses in a month,” said Feliciano.

Department of Health 7 spokesperson, Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, made it clear that it was just a simulation and no actual vaccination of seniors and other health care workers that happened.

Feliciano added that the vaccination center will be replicated in similar sites in Mandaue City so it could meet the time frame of four to six months vaccination program.

“When the vaccines will be available for the general population, Mandaue City will be ready to execute the program,” added Feliciano.

The local government followed the guidelines prepared by the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) for the establishment of vaccination sites.

“Mandaue City’s adherence to the handbook of community vaccination center created by the Visayas COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) shows that the manual when used properly can lead to successful implementation of vaccination roll out,” said Undersecretary Anthony Gerard Ybañez Gonzales of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) in a statement.

The VVOC, through Feliciano prepared the vaccination guideline handbook to help local government units set up efficient vaccination centers.

The VVOC team is composed of OPAV, DOH-7, LGUs, and Project Balik Buhay.

“I salute the effort of IATF-Visayas chief implementer Gen. Mel Feliciano, DOH-7 headed by Regional Director Jaime Bernadas and the Mandaue City LGU for stepping up in creating a benchmark for community vaccination,” Gozales said.

In its assessment of the said vaccination center, the VVOC team discussion focused on the improvement of the process and the storage handling. This is to ensure a smooth localized vaccination operation.

Dr. Dominga Obenza of Mandaue City Emergency Operations Center noted that doing the vaccine roll out on a suitable area as a pilot setting has tremendously improved the overall process.

“True that no plan is ever perfect, we got to see the little things that we may have overlooked, but can eventually impact on the success of this activity. The sharing of ideas is much appreciated,” Obenza said.

It was agreed during the meeting that the VVOC process which was undertaken in Mandaue will serve as the benchmark to be followed by other LGUs in the Visayas. — GMR (FREEMAN)