BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
“We are now ready and prepared and the systems are in place,” City Administrator Em Ang said after the success of the Covid vaccination program simulation at the Barangay Villamonte gymnasium in Bacolod City yesterday.
Ang, who is also the executive director of the city Emergency Operations Task Force, said the vaccination simulation was one of the prerequisites before Bacolod will be given the vaccine allocation by the national government.
On top of the vaccines from the national government, Bacolod is also expected to receive 650,000 doses of AstraZeneca Covid 19 vaccine after Mayor Evelio Leonardia signed a tripartite agreement with the pharmaceutical firm.
During the simulation that was participated in by about 50 residents of Brgy. Villamonte yesterday, volunteers were presented vaccination record cards that are QR coded while the barangay health workers in personal protective equipment verified the vaccination records of the volunteers before checking their names in a master list.
If their names are in the master list, they will sign it before receiving their vaccination consent. The BHW records the vital signs of the volunteers, ensures that they do not have allergies or do not exhibit early signs of Covid, checks their temperatures, and conducts a re-check when their temperatures were more than 37 degrees Celsius.
The vaccinator then double checks the record and reviews the medical history of the volunteer, who is also oriented on the vaccination procedure.
The volunteer is then led to an area where can rest and also checked by a doctor for possible adverse effects.
If the volunteer shows any adverse effect, they will be sent to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital. Otherwise, they can go home but advised to observe themselves for 72 hours, Ang said.
She noted that the entire process, from the registration until the vaccination, takes at least 15 minutes.
Ang also said that the simulation yesterday will be the basis for the adjustment that the EOC will make in the actual Covid vaccination.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia said there were observers from the Department of Health, adding that he hopes to share the city’s best practices with other local government units.
He said Bacolod is one of the few cities to be the first in conducting the vaccination simulation, which he attributed to the efforts of the Emergency Operations Center.
ACTUAL VACCINATION
Ang said that they hope to vaccinate at least 12,500 residents daily at the 25 vaccination centers of Bacolod.
The Bacolod government is set to purchase refrigerated vans and put up refrigerated facilities near the City Health Office for the vaccines as they need to be kept in an area with a temperature of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius.
PRIORITY
Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. reiterated in a recent virtual meeting with the League of Cities in the Philippines that Bacolod is one of the priority cities of the national government in the vaccine distribution. “Don’t worry because Bacolod City is our priority after Cebu City and afterwards, Iloilo City,” Galvez told the virtual general assembly of LCP on Thursday. “All the highly urbanized cities are priorities, we will not leave anyone behind.”*
