FILE PHOTO: A healthcare worker receives a dose of a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on February 7, 2021, in Vienna, Austria. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo
MANILA, Philippines — The Makati City government on Wednesday started administering Pfizer shots to qualified recipients as it reports an “uptick” in its vaccine registration.
The administration of Pfizer vaccines was held at the Makati Medical Center, Makati City Mayor Abby Binay said.
“Yes, there has been an uptick,” Binay said in the weekly Kapihan sa Manila Bay virtual media forum when asked if there had been an increase in vaccine enrolment following her plea to constituents in a previous interview.
“Isang beses lang ako nanawagan, lahat sila nagrehistro na (I just appealed once, and they already registered),” she added. “Yesterday there was an uptick of registrants, napupuno na po (it’s getting filled up), I have to double-check baka nga puno na ‘yung takers namin (maybe takers are already complete) for Pfizer.”
The local chief executive said that aside from the initial 5,000 doses of Pfizer allocated for Makati, the city still has 19,000 doses of AstraZeneca available on top of the 17,200 doses of Sinovac.
READ: ‘Beautiful problem’: Binay says there are now more vaccines than vaccinees in Makati
Binay previously mentioned that the city only has less than 2,000 backlogs in vaccine recipients as of Tuesday.
“And I assume that after the deployment of Sputnik V last week, we are expecting another arrival of the Sputnik V,” she noted.
READ: Metro Manila cities roll out Russian-made Sputnik V jab
Despite the surplus, Binay said the local government still follows the Department of Health guidelines on vaccination priority: A1 (medical front liners), A2 (senior citizens), and A3 (persons with underlying conditions), and A4 (which includes workers from several sectors, and teachers).
READ: LIST: Workers included in the A4 COVID-19 vaccination priority group
“We have to remember that Pfizer and AstraZeneca came from COVAX facility so because it’s from the COVAX, hanggang A3 lang po, hindi po pwede ibigay ‘yung bakuna para sa A4, (it should only be give from A1 to A3, it can’t be given to A4),” she noted.
READ: WHO urges PH to follow priority list for continued rollout of COVAX vaccines
So far, Makati City has recorded 20,752 COVID-19 cases, which include 1,038 active cases, 617 deaths, and 19,097 recovered patients.