JABBED. A nine-year-old boy receives the second dose of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine at the SM City Bacolod inoculation site on March 18, 2022. Vaccination hubs in major malls will continue to accommodate vaccinees while the city government will dispatch more vaccinators to the barangays and deploy Vax-i buses to reach more minors and those needing booster shots. (PNA Bacolod file photo)
BACOLOD CITY – The Emergency Operations Center Task Force (EOC-TF) here is expanding its coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination campaign in the barangays and deploying additional personnel for mobile operations to reach more residents in the coming weeks.
EOC-TF executive director Em Ang said on Friday they will no longer set up inoculation areas in shopping malls visited by a lesser number of people and will instead assign more vaccinators and other staff to the barangays.
“We have decided to close (some mall) sites by the end of this month. Those that will remain are the mega vaccination sites in major malls,” she added.
Ang said they want to bring Covid-19 vaccination closer to more people.
“We have added Resbakuna centers in the barangays so we can bring the vaccination program directly to our constituents. They don’t have to go to the malls as we have added vaccine allocation in the Resbakuna centers. Walk-ins will be accommodated in any vaccination site,” she said.
Dr. Chris Sorongon, EOC-TF medical and data analysis deputy, said some vaccinators have also been assigned to join the mobile vaccination operations.
“You will see more vaccinators going around. Most of them will now man our Vax-is. We’re bringing vaccination closer to the people of Bacolod,” he said.
Sorongon said they aim to reach to those who have yet to receive booster shots as well as the minors in both 5 to 11 and 12 to 17 age groups.
Recently, the city government received 36,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech for children aged 5 to 11.
Currently, both adult and pediatrics vaccination are still available in six shopping malls, including Ayala Malls Capitol Central, SM City Bacolod, Robinsons Place Bacolod, CityMall Mandalagan and Goldenfield, and Gaisano Grand.
As of March 25, data of the Department of Health-Western Visayas showed Bacolod has fully vaccinated 489,130 individuals in the 18 to 59 age group, which is 52 percent higher than the target 321,665 vaccinees.
Among seniors citizens, or the 60 and above population, 75,852 individuals are fully vaccinated, which is 25 percent higher than the target 60,661 vaccinees.
Also fully vaccinated are 62.16 percent or 42,099 of the target 67,727 minors aged 12 to 17 as well as 2.93 percent or 2,398 of the target 81,737 children aged 5 to 11. (PNA)
