Cebu City preps to launch mass vaccination in June

ESSENTIAL and economic workers, or those under Priority Group A4, should register now for the vaccination program as Cebu City Government targets to start the mass vaccination in June.

Dr. Jeffrey Ibones, City Health Department (CHD) officer-in-charge, the City’s vaccine rollout may include individuals under categories A1, A2, A3 and A4.

Priority Groups A1, A2, and A3 are medical workers and other employees in health facilities, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities, respectively.

Ibones urged individuals under category A4 to register online at pabakunata.com, so the City will know how many doses it will ask from the Department of Health (DOH).

“Our registration continues since possibly next month, we will start the mass vaccination that includes A1 to A4,” said Ibones.

More than 110,000 individuals have registered online, but it was not specified how many belong to category A4.

Ibones said the City will also open 15 vaccination sites once the vaccination of category A4 starts.

He said the Vaccine Advisory Board is preparing the manpower that will be deployed to these sites.

Starting Monday, May 24, 2021, those who will be accommodated at the University of Cebu (UC) Banilad campus and Robinsons Galleria are only those who will receive their second dose.

Ibones said 800 vaccinees are scheduled to receive their second dose at UC Banilad, while 900 vaccinees are scheduled to receive their second dose at Robinsons Galleria this week.

The vaccination site at the SM Seaside City will continue to accommodate individuals receiving their first shot.

The vaccination site at the UC Senior High School campus is still intended for those receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shots.

Only around 2,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine remain and they are expected to be all used within the week.

Aside from one, there have been no other reported adverse effects experienced by vaccinees in Cebu City, Ibones said.

Ibones said a person with comorbidity who was injected with the Pfizer vaccine was brought to the hospital due to elevated blood pressure. The vaccinee was discharged the next day.

“But aside from that, we have not received reports of individuals experiencing any untoward (effects) after the monitoring,” he said.

SunStar Cebu tried to get exact figures on the number of vaccinees in the city, but to no avail.

In Mandaue City, the Vaccine Operations Center (VOC) announced that it will begin inoculating persons with comorbidities along with senior citizens on Monday.

This was confirmed by Vaccine Board chairman Ernie Manatad.

He said they will continue to accept health workers who want to be vaccinated, if there are any.

Manatad said nearly 5,000 medical frontliners in the city have been inoculated.

Even before the City began inoculating senior citizens, registration of persons in the Priority Group A3 started with the help of barangay officials who conducted house-to-house visits.

Manatad has yet to give the updated number of registered persons under A3 in the city. However, as of their May 14 data, 447 individuals registered during their house-to-house registration, he said.

Last week, the Mandaue City VOC launched its online registration for people with comorbidities.

On their first day of online registration on May 19, Manatad said 1,400 individuals registered.

Mandaue City has received nearly 25,000 doses of Covid-19 so far.

From May 17 to May 21, 1,559 senior citizens were injected with the first dose, while 1,030 senior citizens and health care workers received their second dose.

Manatad told SunStar Cebu they initially targeted to vaccinate 600 to 800 individuals every day, but only 300 show up on average.

The city has three vaccination sites: the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex, the University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu Mandaue campus and Chong Hua Hospital (for senior citizens with comorbidities).

Meanwhile, the VOC announced that online registration for Priority Group A4, or frontline personnel in essential sectors, including uniformed personnel, is open.

The online registration QR code can be found on its official Facebook page at Mandaue VOC.

Persons included in category A4 are frontline workers of the following industries: commuter transport; government offices; public and private wet and dry market; groceries; delivery services; manufacturing food, beverages, medical and pharmaceutical products; food retail; financial services; teachers of medical and allied medical courses of High Education Institutions; hotel and accommodation; religious leaders; construction workers of government infrastructure projects; security personnel; and overseas Filipino workers scheduled for deployment within two months. (JJL, KFD)