THE Cebu City Government has opened pop-up Covid-19 vaccination sites in Barangays Ermita and Kamputhaw on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021.
This brings the total number of pop-up vaccination sites in the city to eight, said Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of the Emergency Operations Center.
Garganera said pop-up vaccination sites are advantageous because they go directly to barangays and are accessible to ordinary city residents, some of whom are hesitant to get themselves vaccinated for a number of reasons.
“No one will be left at home to look after the kids, and people will line up for the whole day, which equates to loss of income. They cannot dress up and are therefore embarrassed to set foot in the mall. They lack money for transport. Those are among the many reasons why people are hesitant to get vaccinated,” Garganera said.
As a solution, Garganera said setting up pop-up vaccination sites will be of great help to Cebu City’s goal of achieving herd immunity per barangay.
Four of the eight pop-up vaccination sites are in Barangays Taptap, Mambaling, Luz and Hipodromo.
“This morning, I visited both Kamputhaw and Ermita and while I was there, I witnessed hundreds of people lining up to get inoculated,” Garganera said Wednesday.
Once herd immunity is attained in the different barangays, Garganera said the City Council could decide to lower restrictions, and one of the activities that could be allowed is the reopening of basketball courts for sports activities under the supervision of the barangays. Garganera added that only fully vaccinated residents will be allowed to play.
Pediatric vaccination
As to the pediatric vaccination campaign of the Project Balik Buhay (PBB), there were 5,350 minors aged 12-17 who are dependents of employees of PBB-registered companies and organizations listed as of Tuesday, Nov. 9.
PBB targets to complete all scheduled first dose vaccination for its PBB Junior program by Nov. 30.
The PBB Junior pediatric vaccination program has already inoculated a total of 450 minors in the last two days with the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
The program is part of the PBB Vaccination Initiative.
As of Nov. 8, the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) reported 8,997 vaccinations in the pediatric population.
VVOC spokesperson Dr. Mary Jean Loreche said they are looking forward to more minors getting vaccinated as the implementation of the limited face-to-face (F2F) classes is to start on Nov. 15 and the F2F classes could be expanded. (CAL, JOB)