VACCINE ROLLOUT FOR SENIORS TO START
Project Balik Buhay vaccination initiative reminds company employers to monitor employees who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 for any adverse events following immunization within 24 to 48 hours
SENIOR citizens from Barangays Mambaling and Mabolo will be the first to be vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) when the Cebu City Government starts its vaccine rollout for individuals 60 years and above on Monday, April 19, 2021.
They have to gather at pick-up points in the two barangays so City Hall buses can take them to the vaccination sites: Robinsons Galleria for Mambaling residents and the University of Cebu (UC) Banilad campus for Mabolo residents.
City Councilor David Tumulak, one of the cluster heads of the City’s Vaccine Advisory Board (VAB), said the first batch will be picked up at 8 a.m.
City Hall buses will also bring them back to their barangays, he said.
Tumulak said senior citizens are allowed to bring a companion, but only the senior citizen will be vaccinated.
City Health Department officer-in-charge Dr. Jeffrey Ibones said 4,000 doses of Sinovac will be used for the vaccination of senior citizens.
Ibones said they will not entertain walk-ins.
“In kaso og kuadto sila nga wa sila’y schedule, di gyud namo sila ma-entertain (If they go and they’re not scheduled to be vaccinated, they will be turned down),” he said.
He said senior citizens will be contacted for their schedule.
He said dialysis patients, cancer patients, immunocompromised, and others who have existing health condition must bring a medical certificate issued by a doctor.
Ibones said the VAB targets to inoculate 500 individuals in each site every day.
More than 14,000 senior citizens have registered online. The City continues to encode the names of those who agreed to be vaccinated during its house-to-house survey, which is ongoing.
On Tuesday, April 20, senior citizens from Barangays Talamban and Banilad will be vaccinated at the UC Banilad, while those from Barangays Basak Pardo and Kinasang-an will be vaccinated at the Robinsons Galleria.
Ibones said they will continue to continue to accommodate health workers who have yet to receive the vaccine.
Almost 6,000 health care workers in the city have so far been vaccinated.
The Lapu-Lapu City Government will also start vaccinating its senior citizens on Monday even though there are still medical frontliners who have not been vaccinated.
City Health Office head Dr. Agnes Realiza said they asked the Department of Health (DOH) 7 if they could go ahead and vaccinate senior citizens while they waited for medical frontliners to show up to receive the injection.
If some medical frontliners turn up on Monday, they will be vaccinated along with senior citizens, she said.
She said the City had targeted to vaccinate 3,000 medical frontliners, but so far only 2,600 had shown up.
“It’s a very personal decision for them not to get vaccinated. There are some who are still scared no matter how we encourage them that it is better to get vaccinated,” Realiza in Cebuano.
She urged senior citizens to register online before going to the vaccination sites in the barangays.
She said they’ve provided barangay officials with the link for online registration, adding that they will remind senior citizens where their assigned vaccination sites are.
Unregistered senior citizens may not be vaccinated, she said.
Based on the list of the City’s Office of Senior Citizen Affairs, LapuLapu has 20,000 senior citizens.
According to the DOH 7, the city has around 40,000 senior citizens.
The City hopes to finish vaccinating senior citizens within a month.
Meanwhile, local health authorities and administrators of the Project Balik Buhay (PBB) vaccination initiative reminded company employers to monitor their employees who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 for any adverse events following immunization within 24 to 48 hours.
The PBB asked human resources (HR) personnel of each company to track post-vaccination reactions in their employees. It also asked vaccinated employees to reply to an SMS that they will receive two days after vaccination.
For mild reactions, employees are asked to coordinate with their respective HR personnel. In case of severe adverse reactions, employees are advised to seek immediate medical assistance.
Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, DOH 7 spokesperson, said the PBB vaccination initiative’s rollout started on Friday, April 16
Pre-listed health care workers, senior citizens and adults with comorbidities-employees of pre-listed companies were to be vaccinated.
She said the first rollout was held at the PBB hospital centers: Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital in Cebu City (100 pre-listed individuals for vaccination); Chong Hua Hospital in Mandaue City (400 pre-listed individuals), and Allegiant Regional Care Hospital in Lapu-Lapu City (100 pre-listed individuals).
These individuals belonged to the first batch of company applications and employee master lists that were already approved by the DOH 7 and their local government units.
Loreche said the company registration will be until April 30.