The city government of Iloilo will share its purchased AstraZeneca coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines with municipalities composing the Metro Iloilo Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC) to also boost their inoculation targets.
This was confirmed by Iloilo City COVID-19 focal person Roland Jay Fortuna during a virtual press conference where he said aside from the neighboring towns, the local government will also provide vaccines to hospitals and dialysis centers operating in the metro.
“Coordination is now ongoing so we can already release the vaccines to them.”
“Coordination is now ongoing so we can already release the vaccines to them,” Fortuna said.
Hospitals and dialysis centers will have initial doses of 100 each that they can use to inoculate their willing but unvaccinated patients regardless of their place of residence.
Iloilo City sits as chair of the MIGEDC; its members consist of the municipalities of Leganes, Oton, Pavia, San Miguel, Sta. Barbara, and Cabatuan, and the province of Guimaras will be provided with 2,000 doses each.
He said it was proposed that they give the vaccines to priority groups A1 to A3 or the health care workers, senior citizens, and adults with comorbidities if they have not saturated the target sectors yet.
Otherwise, they can already vaccinate the other sectors.
On the other hand, 62.65 percent equivalent to 328,899 of the 525,000 target eligible population are already covered by the vaccination program in the city.
Of those covered, 50.45 percent or 264,480 individuals are already fully vaccinated while over 64,000 are waiting for the schedules of their second dose.
“The half of the herd immunity achievement is already a milestone.”
“The half of the herd immunity achievement is already a milestone. We hope this will entice everyone to get vaccinated and grab the chance given to them,” Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said.
Fortuna added that they have also identified possible sites for the vaccination of the pediatric or 12 to 17 age group, which are near hospitals instead of the hospital-based as required by the Department of Health.
Among those sites are the Ateneo de Iloilo, which is near the Qualimed Hospital, Robinsons Jaro near the West Visayas State University Medical Center (WVSUMC), the University of San Agustin that is near the St. Paul’s Hospital, and SM City, which is near Medicus or Qualimed hospitals.
In a previous interview, he said the target was to roll out the vaccination for the said age group in the middle of this month.
