Red Cross opens first vaccination center in Mindanao

Philippine Red Cross personnel administer COVID-19 vaccine shots to jab recipients in Iligan City. Photo from Philippine Red Cross

ILIGAN CITY—The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) opened a vaccination center here on Wednesday (July 14) in an effort to help the government increase the vaccination coverage.

According to a statement from the PRC, it is their first Bakuna Center in Mindanao. The center is hosted in the Lanao Chung Hua School in Pala-o village.

On its first day of operation, the center has administered the COVID-19 vaccine to 244 recipients. The PRC planned to vaccinate up to 694 people belonging to the A3 and A4 priority lists within the week.

In the coming weeks, it plans to administer privately procured 1,390 doses of Sinovac vaccines.

“The Red Cross will be there where we are needed. Our goal is to vaccinate as many as we can especially now that our country now has lower vaccine hesitancy,” PRC Chairman and CEO Richard Gordon said in a statement. “We want to protect every Filipino from COVID-19,” he added.

The PRC said it plans to establish Bakuna Centers in the cities of Zamboanga, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro in the coming weeks.

Currently, PRC operates 10 vaccination centers in Metro Manila and Luzon that have inoculated at least 28,000 individuals as of July 13.

je