Iloilo City conducts first vaccine simulation exercise

Iloilo City conducted a simulation exercise on January 28, 2021 as it prepares for its vaccination program once the COVID-19 vaccines are available.

500 volunteers composed mostly of employees from the Iloilo City government joined the vaccine simulation exercise at the Central Philippine University (CPU).

“500 Ilonggo volunteers have answered our call to join the simulation exercises to ensure that the process of COVID-19 vaccination for our fellow Ilonggos will go smoothly,” Mayor Jerry Treñas said in his Facebook page.

Out of the 500 volunteers, Treñas said 100 were vaccinated with flu vaccines as part of the simulation exercise.

“100 of them will be vaccinated with the flu vaccine so we can identify the length of time and number of people we can accommodate in a day,” he added.

115 vaccinators composed of midwives and nurses also joined the simulation exercise.

According to the mayor, observations and learnings from the simulation exercise will be incorporated on the city’s vaccination plan which will be submitted to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Department of Health (DOH).

“There may have been many challenges, but we will make sure that we will look at the real situation so we can prepare properly, and submit our plan to WHO and DOH. We have chosen AstraZeneca as it is much safer and more effective so we don’t compromise the health of our constituents, and eventually go back to normal,” he furthered.

Iloilo City has recently signed the multilateral agreement for the advance purchase of AstraZeneca vaccines with a budget of PHP200-million for the 600,000 doses of the vaccines enough to vaccinate about 300,000 residents in the metro.

In partnership with the private sectors, the city also made advance reservations for the additional 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the workers in the city from other provinces.  (ERS)