“Ang booster dose 136,526 pero this is not a good number for booster. Kay karon na naa na tay surge, paspasan na nato kay nagpabilin na open atong vaccination site,” Dr. Michelle Schlosser, spokesperson of the Covid-19 Task Force, said during a radio interview on January 21.
(The booster dose is at 136,526, but this is not a good number. We are already experiencing a surge and there is a need for us to hasten the vaccination. That is why we kept our vaccination sites open.)
To date, the city has 1,216,990 fully vaccinated individuals.
When asked about the reason for the low turnout of the booster shots, Schlosser said there could have been hesitation due to people’s fear of side effects from the vaccines.
“Naa ta ana (effects) sa booster pero less likely compared sa first and second dose,” she said.
(We have side effects for the booster, but they are less likely to happen compared to when you have the first and second dose.)
She also clarified negative rumors surrounding the booster vaccination, saying that no grave incidents such as deaths have been reported.
“Pero wala tay major, naa man gud ta madungog na fake news na naa daw mamatay, nabuang, wala man tay data ana,” said Schlosser.
(There are no major adverse effects. We have no data on deaths caused by the booster vaccination.)
Meanwhile, a total of 1,276,123 individuals have been given their first dose of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine. This is around 98 percent of the city’s target 1,299,894 for herd immunity.
The city also has a total of 1,216,990 individuals who are fully vaccinated. This includes those who received the two-dose vaccines and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen single-shot Covid-19 vaccine.
“Mag sigi ra gihapon ta og storya na magpabakuna na (We will keep encouraging everyone to get vaccinated), because we need 100 percent of the herd immunity,” said Schlosser.
