Lucena mayor calls for unity, cooperation vs COVID-19 under MECQ

Lucena Mayor Roderick Alcala. Photo by Lucena PIO

LUCENA CITY––Lucena Mayor Roderick Alcala has called on residents to remain vigilant to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the city reverted to the strict modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) status.

“The status calls for another discipline challenge for all of us. With the unity and cooperation between authorities and the Lucenahins, we can do it,” Alcala said in a phone interview Friday morning.

The mayor said he respected the decision of the national Inter-Agency Task Force to place Lucena, the capital of Quezon province, under MECQ from Aug. 6 to 15.

Early last month, the city was also placed under MECQ, which was downgraded to modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) with heightened restrictions supposedly until Aug. 15.

As of Aug. 5, Lucena still has 164 active COVID-19 infections, from 285 on June 17.

Alcala said that with the continuous supply of COVID-19 vaccines reaching the city, they aim to fully inoculate more than 40,000 residents before Aug. 15.

He said they are giving priority to local senior citizens in the ongoing vaccination roll-out.

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

Lucena, a highly urbanized city, has a population of 266,000, as of the 2015 census.

The local government aims to administer the vaccines to at least 70 percent of the population, or 186,000, to achieve herd immunity.

But Alcala clarified that the local authorities do not allow walk-ins in its vaccination roll out contrary to fake information spreading in the city

He assailed the source of fake news as “saboteurs.”

“Huwag po tayong maging biktima ng mga nagpapakalat ng fake news na umano’y maaari ang mga walk-in (Let’s not be victims of those who spread this fake news that we allow walk-in),” Alcala alerted the public in a post on his Facebook page.

He added: “Malinaw po na ito’y malisyoso at maaring isang porma ng pananabotahe para guluhin ang ating vaccination roll out.

(This is clearly malicious and may be a form of sabotage of our vaccination roll out).”

The mayor stressed that only those who received a vaccination notice from their village officials and a text confirmation from the city health office would get their jabs.

Residents who received their vaccines praised the orderly vaccination system by the local government.

“We even had our boxed free meals and drinks after vaccination,” Maria Rodriquez, a senior citizen, told the Inquirer.

Authorities conduct the vaccinations at SM City Lucena, Metro Pacific mall, and the city hall complex.

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

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

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