Vaccination rollout for senior citizens starts

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – The Bacolod City government has started rolling out the vaccines for senior citizens.

For the first batch, about 350 senior citizens are expected to be inoculated by the City Health Office (CHO) with Sinovac vaccines today, March 26, 2021.

150 seniors will be vaccinated at the lobby of the Government Center starting 9 am while another 200 seniors have been lined up at four barangay vaccination centers in Villamonte, Mandalagan, Vista Alegre, and Singcang-Airport.

The first 350 vaccinees were informed of their schedule via text message on a “first-come first-served” basis.

Walk-ins will not be allowed for crowd control and physical distancing protocols.

Meanwhile, another 1,050 doses shall be released to various hospitals in Bacolod. These are intended for the remaining health care workers at these facilities and for the senior citizen relatives of hospital health care workers living with them in the same household.

The vaccines will be administered by the hospitals concerned.

“It is the highest priority of the city government to ensure that the lives of Bacolodnons, especially the underprivileged, poor and marginalized, frontline workers, health professionals, healthcare providers, police officers and soldiers, and those in the essential services, especially women who represent the majority of the health workforce, as well as senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and people in vulnerable situations, shall be protected from Covid-19 by ensuring accessibility and adequacy of supply of related drugs and vaccines,” Mayor Evelio Leonardia, who chairs the COVID-19 Vaccination Council (CoVaC), said.

“This vaccination is our only way out of this pandemic and the means to restart our economic recovery.”

Meanwhile, OIC-City Health Officer Dr. Edwin Miraflor, who helped design the city’s vaccination roadmap, and EOC deputy medical Dr. Chris Sorongon, are encouraging persons who are qualified but have yet to register to do so.

“We have waited long enough to convince all HCWs (healthcare workers) to undergo vaccination. We will now proceed to the other priority groups while there are vaccine allocations arriving. Please continue to register through your respective barangays or on the city’s online portal registration,” Miraflor said.

The online registration can be done by registering at this link: tinyurl.com/bcdceironline.

“Remember, in this time of crisis – “bakuna imo nga gugma sa Bacolod,” Miraflor added.

Leonardia said that Bacolod has procured 650,000 doses of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccines using a portion of the P300-million local budget allotted for the vaccination program.

The AZ vaccines are expected to come in batches starting July this year.

The vaccines that will be used between now and July are those that are provided by the DOH.

The negotiation for the purchase of an additional 150,000 doses of vaccines is also underway. (With a report from PIO)