City opens third vaccination site

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City government has opened its third vaccination site yesterday at the SM Seaside, boosting the city’s capacity in the ongoing vaccination program against COVID-19.

City Health officer-in-charge Jeffrey Ibones said the opening of additional site is a big help for the ongoing senior citizen vaccination rollout in the city.

Senior citizens from the south district barangays like Pardo and Inayawan were immediately scheduled for inoculation at the newly opened vaccination center.

Ibones said they made sure seniors living near SM Seaside will be vaccinated there for their convenience.

Councilor David Tumulak said another vaccination site located at SM City Cebu is also expected to open next week to accommodate residents from the barangays in the north district.

“Kinahanglan man gud ang tanan nga vaccination sites should be accessible to all vaccinees, especially the senior citizens,” said Tumulak.

The two other vaccination sites of the city are located at the Robinsons Galleria and University of Cebu (UC) in Barangay Banilad.

Tumulak appealed to other private sectors to help the city government in their search for more vaccination sites.

“Amo sa’ng gihangyo sad ang uban nga mga private sector nga motabang sa atoang gobyerno para daghan ta’ng mahatag nga mga vaccination sites para sa atong mga katawhan. The more nga mga vaccination sites, the more na daghan mga doctor, mga nurses, mga volunteers, daghan ta’g ma-serve nga mga tawo na mabakunahan,” said Tumulak.

More than 3,000 senior citizens had been vaccinated since the city government started the vaccination rollout for the elderly three days ago. The city has 5,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines available from the national government for the seniors.

“Hopefully, the DOH (Department of Health) will give us more vaccines para maka-rollout gyud ta og maayo,” said Ibones.

Healthcare workers who have yet to receive their first dose are also advised to have themselves inoculated. Ibones said the vaccination for healthcare workers is still ongoing.

“Naa pa man. Wa man ta moundang sa mga healthcare workers. Ato lang sila’ng gibutang og oras, alas tres sa hapon, para dili masagol ang senior citizen ug atoang healthcare workers,” he said.

Seniors are encouraged to register online at https://mics.cebucity.gov.ph/vims/page/register or http://www.PaBakunaTa.com.

Online registration is required because the DOH will ask for the masterlist so they would know how much vaccines would be allocated for the city.

“Kung pila ang masterlist nato, mao ra man sad na ang ihatag nga vaccine nato para maka-vaccinate ta. Mao na’ng importante kaayo nga maka-online registration sila kay makahibawo man ang atong Department of Health kung pila ang allocation na ilang ihatag nato,” said Ibones.

Ibones said at least 19,000 seniors have already registered with at least 10,000 giving a “yes” for the vaccination.

Meanwhile, close to 600 senior citizens in Mandaue City were already vaccinated as the city’s vaccination program entered on its third day today.

Mandaue City Vaccine Board chairman Ernie Manatad said that 291 senior citizens were inoculated yesterday while 299 were vaccinated on the first day, April 21, 2021.

 “So far ang mga adverse events kay nitaas ang blood pressure but afterwards na normal ra man,” said Manatad, who is also the president of the Association of Barangay Councils in the city.

The Subangdaku barangay captain said that the city has more than 24,000 registered senior citizens and more than 60 percent of them were already pre-registered for the vaccination.

“Padayon pa gihapon ang atong pagbakuna hangtud mahurot ang 1,180 doses nga gihatag sa Department of Health,” said Manatad. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon, FPL (FREEMAN)