CEBU City’s senior citizens and people with comorbidities can get their booster shot starting Monday, Nov. 29, 2021, the City Health Department (CHD) said.
Dr. Jeffrey Ibones, the CHD head, said the elderly and individuals with comorbidities or groups A2 and A3, respectively, can get the booster shot provided they have been fully vaccinated for at least six months and they have registered online.
Only those who were vaccinated in Cebu City will be catered to.
The CHD earlier announced that only A1 or the healthcare workers will be given the booster shot for now.
“People can register at www.pabakunata.com. They have options to choose from and those under A1, A2 and A3 should get the boosters from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1,” Ibones said.
In the online registration, those who want to get the jab will be asked to indicate their preferred vaccine brand, and whether or not they have been fully vaccinated for at least 6 months.
Those who received only the first dose will not be given the booster shot.
The boosters will be administered only at fixed vaccination sites since the pop-up vaccination sites will cater only to those getting the first or second dose.
In Consolacion town, officials have prepared five vaccination sites for use during the National Vaccination Days from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, in its bid to give 18,000 people the jab against the coronavirus disease.
These sites are the Municipal Gym, SM Consolacion, Mendero Hospital, Barangay Garing Gym and the Tayud Gym, Mayor Joannes “Joyjoy” Alegado announced Friday.
He said the Department of Health expects the town to inoculate 18,000 people, including minors aged 12 to 17, during the three-day period.
The mayor tasked officials of the town’s 21 barangays to go to every purok to identify residents who had not yet been vaccinated against Covid-19, and to bring them to the vaccination sites.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte issued Proclamation 1253 declaring the three days as “Bayanihan, Bakunahan National Covid-19 Vaccination Days” to accelerate vaccination against Covid-19 and the country’s march toward herd immunity.
Those who leave their work to get the jab on those days would not be marked absent, provided that they present proof of the vaccination to their employers.
From the initial target of 15 million people to be jabbed during the three-day campaign nationwide, the government on Saturday, Nov. 27, reduced the target to just nine million due to a shortage of syringes as well as logistical challenges.
The three-day drive will cover 16 regions outside the National Capital Region.
The National Task Force Against Covid-19 said another three-day drive in December would be set to make up for the loss.
Last week, before the vaccination target reduction was announced, the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center had targeted to vaccinate 1.3 million individuals in Central Visayas during the three-day drive.
Central Visayas groups Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.
In Cebu last week, Cebu City announced that it would have 90 vaccination sites since most of the city’s 80 barangays already had vaccination sites.
As of Nov. 24, only 41.9 million adults have received their first dose in the Philippines, while 33.5 million others have been fully vaccinated.
The country has an estimated population of 109 million. (CTL / CAL)