A mascot cheers up children during the first day of COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 in Iloilo. | PHOTO: Facebook page of Iloilo City government
ILOILO CITY—Mascots and freebies greet children on the first day of COVID-19 vaccination for those aged 5 to 11 years old in the city and province of Iloilo.
The mascots entertained and kept the children company to make the vaccination process as stress-free.
They joined the children while waiting to get their shots, during the vaccination and before gamely posing with them for souvenir photos.
The children also received freebies including ice cream, popcorn and loot bags after their vaccination.
The Iloilo City government has opened vaccination sites for 5 to 11 years old at SM City, Robinsons-Jaro and Megaworld malls for city and non-city residents.
The city government received an initial 10,000 Pfizer doses for the inoculation of children.
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas called on parents and guardians of those eligible for vaccination to have their children vaccinated “to boost immunity and protection against COVID-19 and prevent severe infection.”
The Iloilo provincial government has vaccination sites at the West Visayas State University Cultural Center, Robinsons Mall in Pavia town and Aleosan District Hospital in Alimodian town.
The provincial government aims to inoculate a total of 267,470 children aged 5 to 11 years old in the province.
The Department of Health (DOH) is targeting to inoculate 1,080,597 residents aged 5 to 11 years old in Western Visayas.
The number of new COVID-19 cases continues to drop in the region with the average daily cases down to 533 as of February 13 from 828 cases in January.
The cumulative number of cases in the region has reached 179,610 cases including 4,844 deaths, according to a February 13 report of the DOH regional office.
The COVID-19 risk level of Western Visayas also dropped to moderate risk and only Guimaras province is categorized as high risk.
Iloilo City and the provinces of Iloilo and Guimaras remain at Alert Level 3 until February 28.
The DOH and local government units are also ramping up vaccination activities to reach the regional target of 5,579,388 fully vaccinated residents.
As of February 13, 4,449,631 or 79.75 percent of the target are fully vaccinated or while 473,215 or 8.48 percent have received booster shots.
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