FROM mobile to mall vaccination, Cagayan de Oro City Hall is re-calibrating its approach to expand its booster coverage of the city’s population amid new targets set by the national government, a top health official said on Monday.
“Moving forward, we have targets to reach in January to February as per directive by the Department of Health. We are now required to vaccinate 70 percent of our children aged five to 11 years old and ensure 100 percent first booster coverage for adolescents aged 12 years old to 17 years old,” said Dr. Ina Grace-Chiu, national immunization program medical coordinator of the City Health Office (CHO).
During Monday’s resumption of City Hall’s Covid-19 response press briefing, Dr. Chiu cited DOH-10 data showing that Cagayan de Oro City has the second lowest vaccination rate among local governments in northern Mindanao for children aged five to 11 years old since the launching of the ‘Pinas Lakas’ vaccination program last July.
“The city reached 52 percent for children in this age category,” she said.
For those aged 12 to 17 years old, Cagayan de Oro City managed only eight percent coverage since the ‘Pinas Lakas’ vaccination program launched, Dr. Chiu said.
“We are waiting on the barangay leaders to provide us with schedules for their availability in our mobile vaccination drive. In our mobile campaign, we will target both adolescents and senior citizens,” Dr. Chiu said.
Due to the resumption of classes, Dr. Chiu said they shifted their vaccination program to the city’s malls which will be available daily even through Saturdays and Sundays.
The vaccination schedule will be posted on the CHO Facebook page and the Cagayan de Oro City Information Office Facebook page and will cover a lot more areas, she said.
“Based on our experience, if we limit our vaccination venue to one place, people won’t go there because they will become complacent and assume that the vaccination will be available daily (when they want it). So we will transfer our areas of vaccination constantly; on January 12 it will be at City Hall and Cogon market, on January 13 it be at City Hall, Cogon market, and JR Borja General Hospital and on January 14, it is at LImketkai Mall and SM Downtown mall,” Dr. Chiu said.
The mall vaccination venues will be available only on weekends since schools are unavailable while the CHO will conduct vaccination during the ‘Klarex Nga Serbisyo Sa Baryo’ outreach programs conducted by City Hall, Dr. Chiu said.
For her part, City Health Officer Dr. Rachel Dilla also called on the city’s teachers to ensure that they are vaccinated so they can protect themselves and their students. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)