The city government of San Juan announced that it has vaccinated more than 100 percent of its target population against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), drawing it nearer toward the goal of population protection by August.
Mayor Francis Zamora said 96,610 residents and city-based workers have received at least the first dose, or about 80 percent of the estimated 123,000 population.
Of the total, 29,313 have completed their doses.
The city’s feat meant it reached 112.18 percent vaccination as it initially eyed 85,400 for inoculation.
Between 3,000 and 4,000 are being inoculated per day.
“We are projecting that by the end of August, we should be done with our full doses.”
“We are projecting that by the end of August, we should be done with our full doses for the 70 percent of the target population,” Zamora said in a press briefing at the Greenhills Shopping Center vaccination hub.
The milestone was the fruit of the city’s extensive efforts to promote the vaccination program since the first week of January, according to Zamora.
“Nagsimula po noong January 4, kami po ay naglunsad ng amin pong registration bagamat nga po noong panahon na iyon ay wala pa tayong mga bakuna. Ito’y ginawa naming paghahanda sa aktwal na pagdating ng mga ito (We started on January 4 when we launched our registration program while waiting for the vaccines. We did it as preparation for the actual vaccine deployment). So from January 4 to around March 6, when we had our first day of vaccination, we were registering our constituents,” he said.
Zamora said they are still utilizing the vaccines from the national government while waiting for the AstraZeneca jabs the city procured through a tripartite agreement.
“San Juan is more than willing to share its vaccines.”
He said San Juan is more than willing to share its vaccines once it has finished its inoculation program and there are still doses left.
Among San Juan’s guests in announcing the achievement were Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, National Task Force Against COVID-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Secretary Vince Dizon, and Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez.
San Juan has 79 active COVID-19 cases out of the 9,394 confirmed infections as of July 11.
“This is coming from the high of 1,286 last April 12 and we have not gone beyond a 100 mark for a long time so we can see the correlation of the number of vaccinees vis-a-vis with our number of cases. But of course, I don’t want to make people complacent,” Zamora said.
“We still have to remind everyone to wear their masks and follow health and safety protocols such as social distancing,” he added.
Four villages remained COVID-19 free — Isabelita, Pasadena, St. Joseph, and Sta. Lucia.
