THE Cebu City Government opened its second vaccination site for minors aged 12 to 17 without comorbidities on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021.
The second vaccination site, located at Robinsons Cybergate Cebu in the uptown area, was opened nine days after the City started inoculating healthy minors at Doña Anunciacion Aznar Memorial Building in Southwestern University Phinma in Barangay Sambag 2 last Nov. 8.
The City first started inoculating minors who have illnesses at Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) last Oct. 29.
As of Nov. 17, the number of vaccinees aged 12-17 in Cebu, including Cebu City, had breached 4,000, according to Dr. Bryan Albert Lim, a VSMMC infectious disease specialist who has access to vaccination statistics and is helping the City in its pediatric vaccination.
Acting Cebu City Mayor Donaldo “Dondon” Hontiveros went to the site along with members of the Philippine Pediatric Society Inc. in Central Visayas who are helping the City in its vaccination rollout for minors.
There are an estimated 160,000 minors aged 12 to 17 years old in the city.
Hontiveros said the children’s vaccination is a “very welcome development” as it is helping the City in achieving herd immunity.
“We have to work double time, not only for the recovery of our economy, but also for our daily lives,” he said in a speech.
Authorization
The Cebu City Government administers Covid-19 vaccine jabs to children whose parents had consented to their vaccination, and had signed up at Pabakunata.com. A guardian must secure a written authorization from either of the parents; if abroad, parents must grant a power of attorney to the designated guardian.
Lim said one of the challenges that they noticed was that some children went out for vaccination with their guardians such as uncles and aunts because their parents were away.
“The parents can just send over an authorization letter via Messenger and we can print it out and proceed to vaccinate the child,” he said.
Lim also added that while they discourage walk-ins as of the moment, they have initiated to write their names in the substitution list.
“It is similar to walk-in; however, we cannot entertain them right away. They can wait. If there would be a vaccinee who is not around, they can take his/her place,” he said.
The vaccination sites for minors are open on Saturdays to cater to children who cannot make it on weekdays. The City is also planning to open more vaccination sites for minors. (CAL)