MANDAUE City Mayor Jonas Cortes will reach out again to the officials of a public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers’ group in the city to encourage their members to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
Cortes reached this decision after only a handful of PUV drivers got their jabs on the first day of the “Bakuna, Bai,” a drive-by vaccination campaign for PUV drivers and motorists that was launched by the City at Pajara Park on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021.
There were only five PUV drivers who responded to the initiative and got their jabs.
Cortes said there could be a lack of effort in the information drive.
The local executive was also present during the launching of the “Bakuna, Bai” campaign.
The mobile vaccination clinic schedule of Barangay Umapad was simultaneous with the launching of “Bakuna, Bai” at Pajara Park. Umapad residents were more enthusiastic in getting vaccinated with 218 residents receiving their jabs.
However, Cortes saw no reason to stop the vaccination efforts for PUV drivers, saying they will look for solutions to encourage more drivers to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
Not aware
In a separate interview, Greg Perez, chairman of Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston) Cebu, said they are not aware that the Mandaue City Government provides a drive-by vaccination for PUV drivers.
Had they been informed, Perez said the members of Piston would get themselves vaccinated.
Perez said their members personally registered for the vaccination rollout held in the city’s regular vaccination sites.
Piston has 500 members, but only 30 of them were permitted to resume their operations.
As of Aug. 30, Perez said 20 drivers were already fully vaccinated. The remaining 10 are still waiting for their schedules for vaccination.
Perez said they will also inform Piston’s members about the vaccination in the city.
Despite the low turnout of the vaccination of the PUV drivers, Cortes said that their efforts were not put to waste since there were five drivers and 218 Umapad residents who received the shots.
Cortes said he will sit down with the vaccine board on Tuesday, Aug. 31 to discuss how to move on with the vaccination campaign.
He said achieving the herd immunity by vaccinating 70 percent of the city’s population or 295,724 residents is the city’s target.
The Aug. 27 Project Balik Buhay (PBB) report states that Mandaue City has administered a total of 251,540 vaccines—157,148 for the first dose and 94,392 for the second dose. (KFD)