Mandaue eyes vax at doorstep

MANDAUE City is eyeing to reduce the number of its main vaccination sites as it plans to strengthen its sitio-based approach to bring Covid-19 vaccination closer to residents.Ligaya Lakambini Dargantes, operations head of the city’s Vaccination Operations Center (VOC), said they have started the sitio-based vaccination in some of Mandaue’s 27 barangays after noting a decline in the number of people going in for vaccination at the main sites after vaccination cards were no longer required when entering establishments.Currently, Mandaue City has five main vaccination sites. These are Parkmall, Jcenter Mall, University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue (UCLM), Pacific Mall, and Insular Square.Each of the five vaccination sites has around two to three teams consisting of verification personnel, doctors, counselors and vaccinators.Dargantes said the drop in the number of vaccinees is nothing to worry about because Mandaue City has a high vaccination rate among its total eligible population.Dargantes said they will distribute their 12-15 vaccination teams to the different sitios but will continue to operate at least one main site depending on the malls and UCLM should they decide to keep their facilities open.Earlier, VOC senior data controller Levi Doverte said they started the vaccination campaign in selected sitios in Barangays Mantuyong, Casili, and Labogon.The city’s offsite vaccination campaign started last year, according to Doverte, with residents who find it difficult to leave their homes as their main target.The Mandaue City Health Office has been tasked to identify the sitios that will be visited by the vaccination teams although barangay officials could make a request for offsite vaccination in their respective areas of jurisdiction.Mandaue City remains under Alert Level 2 status, along with the other LGUs in Cebu, except for Cebu City, which has been deescalated to Alert Level 1 until March 31, 2022.