Bacolod City and Negros Occidental are ready for the three-day national vaccination rollout starting Nov. 29.
The aim for the province is to vaccinate more than 400,000 Negrenses in three days. This is a very challenging task, Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, said but can be achieved with the full support and cooperation of all officials, from the barangay to the provincial level, and the residents.
The vaccines needed for the massive vaccination program have been sent to the 31 towns and cities of Negros Occidental since Saturday.
Each local government unit was also provided by the Department of Health with 6,000 syringes, aside from ancillary supplies from the provincial government.
The province also allocated P2 million for the purchase of additional supplies in support of the three-day vaccination activities.
Eight vaccination teams of the PHO will be deployed to augment the LGU personnel, mostly in south central and southern part of Negros Occidental.
Among the LGUs with big vaccination targets are Kabankalan City, 43,100; Bago City, 37,442; San Carlos City, 29,705; Himamaylan City, 24,994; Silay City, 21,125; Cadiz City, 29,583; Sagay City, 27,143; Cauayan, 24,426; and Hinigaran, 20,478.
Tumimbang said that, of the 1.8 million Negrenses targeted for vaccination, the province had administered the vaccines to around 32 percent, or more than 550,000 residents, as of Nov. 25.
The aim is to increase the vaccination rate to 40 to 45 percent, he added.
He said that each LGU was given an individual target based on the backlog since the start of the vaccination. It’s a big challenge for every LGU on how much they can deliver in three days.
Tumimbang said what caused the backlog was the delayed arrival of the big volume of vaccines for Negros. The big shipment started only in October unlike the other provinces in the region that had enough supply of the anti-COVID vaccines as early as June, he added.
Other contributory factors were the misinformation to people in the uplands, and the delayed and even lack of proper reporting of LGUs on the number of people vaccinated.
For Bacolod, Emergency Operations Center deputy director, Dr. Chris Sorongon, said that about 40 vaccination centers will be activated, aside from the mega vaccination centers in malls, barangays, schools, and the Vax-i buses.
The DOH gave Bacolod a daily target of 22,000 vaccinees to increase its output and possibly achieve the 70 percent target for herd immunity by December 15.
Sorongon said the target may be too high but officials told the DOH that Bacolod will exert its “best effort” to inoculate as many as possible in three days.
The city recently posted its highest inoculation at 13,403 vaccinees in a single day, and broke its previous record of 12,000.
The City Health Office, under Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr., already oriented 127 volunteers.
The vaccination teams are composed of health screeners, vaccinators, post-vaccination monitors, registration personnel, encoders, data consolidators or talliers, and health educators.
EOC executive director Em Ang said that over a hundred volunteers have signed up for the Bacolod leg of the national vaccination drive.
The pediatric vaccination for first and second doses will be at SM Cinema, while the general public will be inoculated at the 3rd floor of the mall’s north wing. Booster shots, on the other hand, will be administered at the Traveller’s Lounge at the ground floor of the south wing, and those qualified are vaccinees under the A1, A2, and A3 priority groups.
Pediatric vaccine seekers 12 to 17 years old must bring either their birth or baptismal certificate, ID, parents or guardians’ valid ID, and authorization letter signed by parents. Adults must bring any government-issued ID.
Women who are in their second or third trimester are required to present a valid ID and medical certificate from their doctor allowing them to get vaccinated.
The “Bayanihan Bakunahan” will start simultaneously at 8 a.m. in schools and barangay-based vaccination sites, while mall-based vaccination centers will open 10 a.m. onwards. — MML
