THE Cebu City Government will launch a massive vaccination drive from Thursday, Dec. 9, until the end of the month in a bid to achieve herd immunity against coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Dr. Jeffrey Ibones, head of the Cebu City Health Department (CCHD), said around 93 percent of the over 719,000 target population of Cebu City has received a first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Based on CCHD data, 674,667 had already been vaccinated in the City Government’s vaccination rollout, of whom 448,064 were fully vaccinated while 588,686 had received at least a first dose out of the 948,896 people who registered to be vaccinated.
Ibones said on Wednesday, Dec. 8, alone, the Cebu Institute of Technology-University vaccination site vaccinated 1,013 minors aged 12 to 17 years old. In total, around 8,000 individuals received a first or second dose at all the regular and pop-up vaccination sites of the city combined that day.
On Thursday, Dec. 9, the Cebu City Government will open 22 pop-up vaccination sites in Barangays Hipodromo, Busay, Kalunasan, Kamputhaw, Lahug, Luz, Bulacao, Inayawan, Mambaling, Quiot, Tejero, San Nicolas Proper, Calamba, Duljo, Guadalupe, Labangon, Punta, Tisa, Mabolo, Talamban, Apas, and Iconique mall on Colon St.
On Dec. 10, the pop-up vaccination sites will be in Barangays Kalunasan, Lahug, Luz, Bulacao, Inayawan, Mambaling, Poblacion Pardo, Tinago, San Nicolas Proper, Calamba, Duljo, Guadalupe, Labangon, Punta, Tisa, Mabolo, Talamban and Apas.
On Dec. 11, Barangays Kalunasan, Kamputhaw, Lahug, Luz, Bulacao, Inayawan, Mambaling, Poblacion Pardo, Suba, Guadalupe, Labangon, Tisa, Mabolo, Talamban and Bacayan will host the pop-up vaccination sites.
The regular vaccination sites in Ayala Center Cebu, University of Cebu on J. Alcantara, Southwestern University-Phinma (minors), Robinson Cybergate (minors), Robinsons Galleria, SM Seaside City and SM City Cebu will stay open.
For alert upgrade
Ibones said the pop-up sites were opened on the orders of Mayor Michael Rama to encourage senior citizens and persons with disabilities to get vaccinated, especially after the mayor announced Monday that the fully vaccinated among them would get priority in the distribution of the City’s financial aid, followed by the partially vaccinated.
More than 50,000 of Cebu City’s nearly 100,000 senior citizens have not been vaccinated.
Ibones said the city cannot be upgraded to Alert Level 1 status if the proportion of the elderly population vaccinated against Covid-19 does not reach 50 percent.
From Dec. 15 to 17, the second round of the three-day National Covid-19 Vaccination Days, Ibones said they will target 7,000 first doses per day.
Ibones is optimistic that in this way, Cebu City will achieve herd immunity this month.
The first round of the three-day national vaccination drive was held on Nov. 29-Dec. 1 with an extension until Dec. 3.
Of the 719,979 target population of Cebu City, 55,809 individuals or 7.7 percent remained unvaccinated, the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) reported Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021.
The city’s population is 1,028,542, so the target population is 70 percent of that, or 719,979.
First dose coverage
Data provided by the VVOC showed that 664,170 individuals had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine as of 6 a.m. of Dec. 6, which means the City has administered a first dose to 92.25 percent of its target population.
For the Dec. 15 to 17 drive, VVOC spokesperson Dr. Mary Jean Loreche said Cebu City targets to jab 6,439 individuals daily or a total of 19,317 individuals for the first dose for the three days.
Aside from those, 20,001 individuals are targeted to receive their second dose on the three days (2,499 on Dec. 15, 6,555 on Dec. 16 and 10,947 on Dec. 17).
Of the three highly urbanized cities in Cebu, only Cebu City has not yet achieved herd immunity. The is due to its population being bigger than that of the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue, which have already fully vaccinated more than 70 percent of their eligible populations.
According to the National Covid-19 Vaccination Dashboard as of Dec. 6, 2021, Cebu City had fully vaccinated only 64.32 percent of its target population.
VVOC data showed that Lapu-Lapu City has no unvaccinated persons among its target population as it had given a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine to 342,852 people or 107.65 percent of its 318,480 target population.
The situation was the same for Mandaue City, which had given a first dose to 301,939 or 106.69 percent of its 283,006 target population.
After Cebu City, Liloan had the most number of unvaccinated individuals among nine Metro Cebu local government units (LGUs) at 31,839 unvaccinated persons out of its 92,672 target population; followed by Talisay City, 30,880 unvaccinated out of its 177,649 target population; Cordova, 20,100 unvaccinated out of its 46,598 target; Naga City, 14,628 unvaccinated out of its 90,329 target; Consolacion, 11,417 unvaccinated out of its 102,641 target; and Minglanilla, 11,268 unvaccinated out of its 103,115 target population.
Among the nine LGUs, Lapu-Lapu City had the best coverage at 107.65 percent of its targeted population having received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Cordova had the lowest coverage at 56.87 percent or 26,498 persons of its 46,598 target population receiving at least one dose.
For the Dec. 15-17 national vaccination drive, after Cebu City, Liloan has the largest three-day target of 11,022 for the first dose; followed by Talisay City, 10,689; Cordova, 6,957; Naga City, 5,064; Consolacion, 3,954; and Minglanilla, 3,903. (PAC, JOB, CTL)