Angeles mayor designates second vax site, targets 4,000 pax daily

ANGELES CITY--Mayor Carmelo "Pogi" Lazatin, Jr., has designated a second vaccination site where they can inoculate Covid-19 vaccines to at least 4,000 residents a day.

The Angeles City National High School (ACNHS) in Barangay Pampang will serve as a vaccination site from June 1 to 30, 2021 after the Department of Education (DepEd) approved Lazatin’s request to use the school's facilities as a vaccination center.

Lazatin said the period can be extended.

"With the second designated vaccination center, the city could inoculate an average of 4,000 residents a day. We want to ramp up the efforts being undertaken by the city government for the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines," Lazatin said.

Lazatin last March designated the City College of Angeles (CCA) as Covid-19 vaccination center that can accommodate 2,000 residents every day.

In the second vaccination center, there are 16 computer units installed, 16 air coolers, and four tents placed at the new vaccination site.

According to Lazatin’s Chief Adviser and Tactician IC Calaguas, there are seven vaccinators, eight doctors, and 100 support staff that will be assigned at ACNHS.

to inhale smoke. It is the tar from combustion, and not nicotine, that contains carcinogens and toxicants. “We see similar disease patterns in those who cook food over open fires with poor ventilation and in firefighters exposed long-term to smoke inhalation,” he said.

He likened nicotine to caffeine, saying it is a psychoactive substance that is addictive and gives assorted benefits to many users. He, however, noted that “by themselves, neither have significant health risks when used at normal dosage levels. But if obtained through a toxic delivery system such as smoking, great injury can be caused.”

Sweanor said that making NCAs available to countries such as the Philippines will help millions of smokers reduce their exposure to smoke and illnesses.

Mounting evidence from scientific studies around the world confirm that NCAs are significantly less harmful than traditional cigarettes. According to Public Health England and the Royal College of Physicians, e-cigarettes are at least 95-percent less harmful to humans than combustible tobacco.

A February 2019 clinical trial by UK’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) found that e-cigarette was twice as effective as nicotine replacement treatments such as patches and gum at helping smokers quit. NCAs offer a similar ritual and pleasure as cigarettes with less exposure to the dangerous toxins and carcinogens found in tobacco smoke.

“We now can get rid of cigarette smoking much as many countries have got rid of various infectious diseases and transitioned consumers away from a broad range of other overly hazardous products. We can use science, technology and reason to draft regulations that can end cigarette smoking, and thus address the 20,000 daily deaths globally that are caused by that smoking. We can make public health history no less significant than the eradication of smallpox,” Sweanor said.

Citing Japan’s experience, Sweanor said the it reduced cigarettes sales by more than 30% in just over three years following the introduction of HTPs.

“Product substitution works and appears to work better than any other strategy we have used to date in reducing cigarette smoking. We have also seen this impact in Sweden, Norway, Iceland and other countries as well, and with a variety of low-risk non-combustible alternatives to cigarettes,” he said.

He noted, however, that many governments can’t keep up with the advances in science and technology.

“They often fail to understand the absolutely enormous differences in risk between different nicotine products and inadvertently protect the cigarette business by seeing low-risk alternatives as a threat rather than an opportunity,” he said.

“The combined offering in terms of consumer needs and wants, and the information, availability and pricing of the low-risk alternatives should ensure that the safer choice is an easy choice,” he said.

“Viable alternatives to cigarettes can reduce cigarette consumption dramatically. We can seize the opportunity technology now makes available to end the cigarette epidemic,” Sweanor said.