CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Health Department is looking for volunteers for the National Vaccination Days from November 29 to December 1, 2021 in which nearly 100,000 individuals are targeted to be inoculated in 90 vaccination sites to be put up.
City Health Office officer-in-charge Jeffrey Ibones is urging nurses, doctors, encoders, among others, to help augment the city’s personnel for the upcoming three-day simultaneous vaccination drive against the COVID-19.
“We are hoping na sa mga volunteers hopefully nga moduol sa atoa pag-volunteer sa kana nga three days kay importante kaayo sa tanan nga makuha na nato nga 32,000 a day,” said Ibones.
After the strategic planning last Friday, Ibones said the city is already preparing 90 vaccination sites for the activity to inoculate a total of 96,000 individuals.
“Ang amoa, naa mi mga sites nga amoang gipilian nga atong butangan nato nya nagbutang nasad mi kung kinsa’y mga tawo nato. Tanan nga mga tawo sa Cebu City Health Department, ato nang gikuan ilahang leave nga walay mo-leave ana nga adlaw,” he said.
These sites would be located in mountain barangays, gyms, churches, schools, malls, among others.
Ibones is hoping that November 29 will be declared as a holiday so that many people will have the time to go to the vaccination sites.
November 30 or Bonifacio Day is already a regular holiday.
Ibones also said that walk-ins will be catered to.
Though it is advised for the individuals to register first through pabakunata.com before going to the vaccination sites, he said the personnel at the site will help register those who are unregistered yet but want to already avail of the vaccine.
Ibones said the event would give the city a chance to achieve the herd immunity by the end of the year.
As of yesterday, 471,758 individuals in the city already received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 396,886 are already fully-vaccinated.
More shots arrive
Meanwhile, more vaccine shots have arrived in the country ahead of the three-day National Vaccination Day from November 29 to December 1.
A total of 5,000 doses of the single-shot Sputnik Light COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Russian government and 2.8 million doses of procured Sputnik V shots arrived last Friday.
National Task Force chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said the latest shipment of Sputnik V vaccines composed of Component 1 and 2 completes the procurement contract between the Philippine government and Russia’s Russian Direct Investment Fund for 10 million doses of the COVID-19 jabs.
“The completion of this contract is a testament of the robust relationship between our countries which transcends diplomatic relations. Moreover, it demonstrates Russia’s strong commitment to help provide greater vaccine accessibility to all nations including the Philippines,” said Galvez.
Galvez also said that the procurement of 10 to 20 million Sputnik Light doses for next year’s vaccination is now underway. This is expected to be used as a booster shot mainly for senior citizens.
“We are confident that the talks will yield positive results as we diversify our vaccine portfolio, scale up our vaccine throughput, and achieve herd immunity by the first quarter of 2022,” Galvez said.
Galvez said the single-dose vaccines will be deployed to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Aside from the close to 3 million Sputnik V vaccines, the country also got the government-procured 1,306,000 doses of Moderna last Friday.
Deputy Presidential Peace Adviser Undersecretary Isidro Purisima, who led a government delegation in receiving the vaccines, noted that the country has received a total of 13.9 million Moderna vaccine doses.
According to Zuellig Pharma Market managing director Jannette Jakosalem, another 5 million doses of Moderna vaccines are scheduled to be delivered to the country within this month.
Moderna vaccines is one of the two vaccine brands given an Emergency Use Authority for the pediatric population of 12 to 17-year-olds. The other brand is PfizerBioNtech. — Caecent No-ot Magsumbol, JMD (FREEMAN)