FILE PHOTO: A health worker prepares a dose of AstraZeneca COVID-19. Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The local government here is seeking more vaccines from the national government to support its goal of achieving herd immunity in the city by the end of this year.
Mayor Oscar S. Moreno said he had written to Secretary Carlito Galvez, the country’s vaccine czar, regarding the proposed increase in vaccine allocation for the city.
With three mall-based vaccination centers, an average of 5,000 people are administered COVID-19 shots every day.
Moreno said they wanted to ramp this up to 8,000 so the vaccination effort can gain further momentum and help slow the rate of infections amid the detection of new virus variants.
The local government targets the inoculation of at least 518,000 residents. As of August 18, 256,730 persons submitted themselves for vaccination of whom 81,794 have completed two doses while 174,936 had their first dose.
The request for more vaccines comes with the plan to add another mall-based vaccination site and undertake a community-based rollout.
Moreno said Galvez had already endorsed the local government’s request to the Department of Health. Ryan D. Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao