Over 24,000 residents in Lucena City get COVID-19 vaccines

A patient receives a COVID-19 vaccine. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)

LUCENA CITY — At least 24,556 residents in this capital city of Quezon province have been administered vaccines against COVID-19.

Arnel Avila, city public information officer, citing the latest report of the City Health Office, said Saturday that 11,145 residents had received their second dose of the vaccine as of August 5.

The report also said 13,411 residents had been injected the first dose.

The vaccines were provided by the Department of Health.

Lucena, classified as a highly urbanized city, would need to inoculate at least 70 percent or 186,000 of its 266,000 population as of the 2015 census to achieve herd immunity.

Mayor Roderick Alcala said that with the continuous supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, “we aim to fully inoculate more than 40,000 residents before August 15.”

He also said they are giving priority to local senior citizens in the ongoing vaccination rollouts.

“Those who have yet to receive their vaccination schedule, I ask for their understanding. Their time will also come,” he appealed to qualified residents in a phone interview Friday morning.

Last week, City Hall has received 6,000 doses of the single-shot COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson.

Alcala said more COVID-19 vaccines will arrive in the coming days for continuous immunization in the face of threats from the highly transmissible Delta variant.

As of August 6, Lucena, which has been reverted to strict modified enhance community quarantine (MECQ) status until August 15, still has 170 active COVID-19 infections from 285 on June 17.