Manila targets 18,000 daily vaccinations
Manila is targeting to vaccinate at least 18,000 residents against COVID-19 per day once the city government rolls out the inoculation program, Mayor Isko Moreno announced yesteday.
Moreno said this would translate to 540,000 people inoculated per month.
He said 18 vaccination centers, mostly public schools, are in place for the rollout of the vaccines.
The local government has identified 40 other areas to augment the number of vaccination sites.
Moreno said he is scheduled to meet with Church officials for the possible use of churches in the city as vaccination sites.
City hall has prepared facilities for the storage of the initial 800,000 doses of vaccine procured from British drug manufacturer AstraZeneca.
The vaccines are expected to be delivered this month.
Last week, the city government conducted a second vaccination drill at the Isabelo Delos Reyes Elementary School in Tondo. At least 1,000 residents participated in the activity.
Moreno said the simulation exercise was conducted to enable health workers to familiarize themselves with the process of inoculating patients with COVID-19 vaccines.
“We want our health workers to be able to master the vaccination process in a fast, safe and efficient way so they will not encounter problems during the actual inoculation,” Moreno said.
Aside from medical frontliners, around 10,000 public school teachers will assist in the vaccination program.
Moreno said Tondo is among the priorities in the vaccination due to high cases of COVID-19 in the area.
More than 78,000 Manila residents have registered to avail themselves of free COVID-19 vaccines.
Meanwhile, Moreno led the launching of the national government’s vaccination against measles and rubella at city hall yesterday.
The program, dubbed “Chikiting ligtas sa bakuna kontra tigdas, polio at rubella,” aims to vaccinate children nine months to 59 months.
The program is a nationwide vaccination program of the Department of Health along in coordination with local government units.