- MITCH M. LIPA
The Bacolod City government conducted a dry run of its COVID-19 vaccination program Friday, Feb. 5, to test the effectiveness of its plan and study the real time and motion when the actual rollout happens.
The dry run was held at the Villamonte Gym.
The city government plans to set up 25 vaccination centers, preferably in health centers, gyms and schools, spread in 61 barangays in the city.
The preferred vaccination centers are those near hospitals.
Through the dry run, the CHO team hopes to calculate the time to complete the procedure.
Acting City Health Officer Dr. Ediwn Miraflor Jr. said they tapped 50 patients for the dry run and had three teams of vaccinators, emergency staff, and members of the security group.
Every team was composed of three health personnel, including nurses and midwives.
The observation period was between 30 and 40 minutes to monitor reactions following the administration of the vaccine.
Small barangays, particularly the numbered villages, will be merged into one center during the actual inoculation.
The dry run was in compliance with the guidelines set by the Department of Health and the World Health Organization.
The output of the dry run will be fine-tuned before it is cascaded to the different members of the team in all vaccination centers.
City Administrator Em Ang, who sits as the executive director of the Emergency Operations Center, said they are expecting the first batch of vaccines in March.
Ang was referring to the China-made Sinovac as relayed by Secretary Carlito Galvez, the designated vaccine czar.
Ang said that Galvez informed them that Bacolod is among priority cities for Sinovac.
Miraflor said that these vaccines might be for trial purposes being conducted by the Chinese drug company as compliance before its approval from the Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.
The trial procedure is similar to the actual vaccination but only for those who want to volunteer.
The city expects 650,000 doses of vaccines based on the contract it signed with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.
Miraflor said the vaccine is expected to arrive by the second semester of this year. – MML
