THE City Government of Bacolod is only waiting for an additional supply of Covid-19 vaccines to accommodate those who are under priority group A4 category.
This was stressed by Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran on Thursday, May 20, 2021, after the national government earlier announced that the government is expanding the vaccination priority group to the A4 that may start next month.
A4 group covers frontliners, government employees, essential workers, and uniformed personnel.
Familiaran, chairman of Bacolod City Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), said the City already administered the Covid-19 vaccines supply from the national government for the recipients under priority groups A1 to A3.
He said the vaccines that were recently delivered in Bacolod City were consumed within three days.
On Tuesday, an additional 3,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines arrived in Bacolod City from the Department of Health (DOH).
On May 11, the City also received 19,420 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines. This is roughly a 15-percent share in that particular allocation for Western Visayas of 127,000 doses.
Familiaran said under the IATF rules, vaccines should be administered within six days upon delivery.
On May 14, 17 and 18, a total of 8,740 persons in Bacolod City under priority group A1 (healthcare workers), A2 ( senior citizens), and A3 (persons with comorbidities) were inoculated in various vaccination centers in the city.
“Early consumption of the vaccines shows that the public’s confidence towards the vaccination roll-out has increased probably because they saw that those who have been vaccinated earlier felt no drastic effect,” Familiaran said.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia, in a statement, also said: “This growing number of people flocking to the various vaccination centers is a sure sign that vaccine acceptance is now getting stronger among our people and we are happy with that.”
“When the 650,000 doses of AstraZeneca that the City purchased directly with local funds will start arriving in batches by July, we will have a more stable supply of vaccines because we will no longer be completely dependent on the periodic rations from the national government,” he said.
“With a more stable supply of vaccines, we intend to put these in people’s arms as quickly as we can so we can reach herd immunity status sooner rather than later and re-boost our local economy which has suffered in this pandemic,” he added.
To avail of the free vaccination, Bacolod residents should register online through the link tinyurl.com/bcdceironline or at their Barangay Halls.
Only those who have completed their vaccination registration and have received a call or text from the EOC notifying them of their appointments will be accommodated to avoid overcrowding.
