) – June 26, 2021 – 12:00am
CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City is appealing to the Department of Health (DOH)-7 for more allocation of vaccines against COVID-19.
City Health officer-in-charge Jeffrey Ibones said the 5,000 doses of vaccine the city received on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, were already consumed.
“Mao na’y tan-awon unta sa Department of Health nga kusog kaayo (ta) namakuna sa atoang mga kaigsuonan diri sa Cebu City pero ang gihatag mura og gamay kaayo… Kulang gyud ang atong bakuna,” Ibones said.
“May’nta og tagaan ta og daghan nga allocation kay nakita man gyud nga kusog mamakuna ang Cebu City,” he added.
To recall, the city government suspended its vaccination temporarily on Wednesday due to shortage of vaccines. This resumed on Thursday after the city received additional 5,000 doses of Sinovac.
Five sites were opened to fast track vaccination – the University of Cebu-Banilad, UC in J. Alcantara Street, Robinsons Galleria, SM Seaside, and the NOAH Complex.
Councilor David Tumulak said the limited supply of vaccine is a challenge the city is facing.
“Mao na’y nakalisod gumikan kay mag-agad man gud ta kanunay sa Department of Health sa mga bakuna nga ilang gipada,” Tumulak said.
“Pasalamat gani ta nga ang mga tawo willing, ang mga tawo sa Cebu City willing magpabakuna apan ang nasugatan nga problema, wa’y bakuna,” he said.
He said of the 5,000 additional vaccine allocation, 4,000 were administered by 3:00 p.m. Thursday.
“Daghan pa kaayo’ng mga tawo intawon nga gusto’ng magpabakuna apan gumikan sa limitasyon sa bakuna, wa gyud tawon sila mabakunahi,” said Tumulak.
Tumulak said the remaining 1,000 doses were given out during Friday’s vaccination.
Yesterday, two vaccination sites were operational— Robinsons Galleria and a new site located in Barangay Taptap where 500 doses were allocated.
With vaccine supply depleted, Tumulak said vaccination centers will be closed again.
Ibones said this also the reason why the city did not yet open more additional vaccination sites just yet.
“Naa gyud mi assessment every day kay among tan-awon, no, kay kon in-ana ang pamaagi nga gamay ra ta’g bakuna, gamay ra sad ang atong i-open… Pero tungod kay limited man gud, ato man gu’ng gibahin, mao nang wa pa gyud ta ka-open og another site kay maanugon man ang atong personnel,” said Ibones.
Ibones said the next batch of vaccine from the national government may arrive next week.
“Ang amo lang, tagaan mi’g dako-dako nga allocation kay, actually, nakita man nila gyud kung unsa kapaspas mamakuna ang Cebu City LGU. I hope lang nga ma-okay ra nila,” Ibones said.
As of Friday, June 25, 2021, at least 95,000 individuals in Cebu City have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Challenge
Meanwhile, in Manila, the Philippines’ vaccine czar, Sec. Carlito Galvez, is up to proving wrong a UK-based group that said the Philippines will be among the last countries in Asia to achieve herd immunity.
The group, Pantheon Macroeconomics, said most Asian countries could achieve herd immunity, including from the more contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 by next year, except for the Philippines and Vietnam as both countries lag behind their neighbors in vaccination.
Based on vaccines procured, though, data posted via ourworldindata.org by the Oxford University and Oxford Martin School and the Global Change Data Lab, showed that there are far more Asian countries that have acquired fewer doses of vaccine for its total population.
“We will prove them wrong,” Galvez said in a statement released by the National Task Force against COVID-19.
Galvez said the country’s daily rate of vaccination has increased steadily.
Last June 22, Galvez said a total of 223,602 doses have been administered, and if this trend continues, he is confident that the country would be able to achieve herd immunity before the year ends.
Galvez also said that the number is expected to go up further, as more than 5,000 vaccination sites throughout the country will be activated soon.
Once the private sector starts vaccinating its workers, the nation’s vaccination rate will rise even rise further.
“We will see a significant increase in our daily vaccinations once these private-sector efforts gain momentum,” Galvez said.
Last Thursday, 2 million doses of CoronaVac vaccines arrived at the NAIA Terminal 2, bringing to 11 million total doses received by the country from the China-based manufacturer.
Of the latest batch of Sinovac vaccines, 1.6 million doses were procured by the national government while 400,000 doses were purchased by the City of Manila.
The latest shipment of anti-COVID vaccines brings to 16.2 million the number of doses received by the Philippines since February.
“The latest vaccines from Sinovac will be deployed in the provinces, based on the directive of President Duterte,” Galvez said.
He said he has already instructed the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) to immediately dispatch the newly-arrived vaccines to LGUs nationwide.
The Philippines has breached the nine million mark in the total number of jabs administered – 9,281, 235 as of June 23 – since the program was rolled out in March.
“This development shows that we are on the right track in our vaccination program. With the steady arrival of larger vaccine doses, we will be able to accelerate the inoculation of our priority sectors,” Galvez said. — Caecent No-ot Magsumbol/JMO (FREEMAN)