A total of 3,681 Bacolod residents were inoculated in 15 vaccination centers of the City on Monday, records of the Emergency Operations Center and the Covid-19 Vaccination Council show.
Of the number, 837 were vaccinated in Brgy. Villamonte, 564 – Ayala Malls Capitol Central, 408 – Brgy. Taculing, 369 – SMX Convention Center of SM City, 232 – Brgy. Granada, 211 – Brgy. Mansilingan, 179 – ABES Cluster, 175 – Brgy. 39 Cluster, 115 – Brgy. Mandalagan, 115 – Singcang-Airport, 109 – Brgy. Alijis, 100 – Brgy. Banago, 98 – Brgy. Tangub, 85 – Brgy. Bata, and 84 – ETCS Cluster.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia said that public confidence in the vaccine is getting stronger, as evidenced by the increase in the number of people who have already been inoculated.
“This is already proof that the vaccines are safe. I’m hoping that more people will come to be vaccinated,” he added.
The mayor emphasized that getting vaccinated is “our major way of winning against Covid-19.”
“Let us do our best to achieve our target number of vaccinees so that we reach herd immunity as soon as we can,” he told the officials of the EOC and the CoVaC, both of which he chairs, during their meeting Monday night.
He said the city targets to inoculate as many Bacolodnons as possible, when the 650,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that were procured by the City using local funds, start arriving in July, a press release from the city said.
While the city currently depends on the vaccine supply allocated by the national government from time to time, Leonardia said they will try to vaccinate as many people and as fast as possible upon the arrival of the rationed vaccines.
VACCINE ROLLOUT
The City started its vaccine rollout on March 5 at the City Government Center. Since then, more than 18,000 Bacolod residents have already been vaccinated, based on EOC and CoVac records.
After a month of the rollout activities at the Government Center and after receiving more vaccine supplies of the Sinovac brand from the national government, the CoVaC decided to hold the rollout at two malls: SM City Bacolod on May 3, and Ayala Malls Capitol Central on May 8. Arrangements are also underway for one at the Robinsons Place Bacolod mall.
MORE VACCINES
On May 11, more vaccines arrived from the national government – this time, with 19,420 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine. This is roughly a 15 percent share in the allocation for Western Visayas of 127,000 doses.
The target vaccinees in these rollouts continue to be the remaining frontline healthcare workers (A1), senior citizens (A2), and adults with comorbidities (A3).
To facilitate a faster rollout from May 14 to 21 of the newly-arrived AstraZeneca vaccines, the CoVaC increased the number of vaccination centers by opening facilities in select barangays or cluster of barangays on differing dates within the period, the press release said.
These are in Alangilan, Alijis, Banago, Bata, Estefania, Felisa, Granada, Handumanan, Mandalagan, Mansilingan, Montevista, Pahanocoy, Punta Taytay, Singcang-Airport, Taculing, Tangub, and Villamonte.
Several other barangays are grouped under the ABES Cluster, the ETCS Cluster, the Brgy. 38 Cluster, and the Brgy. 39 Cluster.
APPEAL FOR MORE VACCINES
Early this month, Leonardia requested the national government to allocate more vaccines for Bacolod, citing the urgent need to inoculate more residents as the City is “being hit hard by this new wave of Covid-19 infections.”
“Ramping up our vaccination program will be critical to saving lives and restoring economic activity in our city,” Leonardia said in his May 5 letter to Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force for Covid-19, in appealing for more vaccine supplies for Bacolod.
The national government responded by allocating 19,420 AstraZeneca doses to the city.
REGISTRATION NEEDED
To avail of the free vaccination, Bacolod residents should register online through tinyurl.com/bcdceironline, or at their barangay halls.
Only those who have completed the vaccination registration and have received a call or text from the EOC notifying them of their appointments will be accommodated to avoid overcrowding.*
