ILOILO City – Mayor Jerry Treñas has sought the approval of the state’s taskforces against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to allow booster shots for medical frontliners here.
Coronavirus cases here are rising and frontliners are exhausted, said Treñas.
The mayor believed these frontliners and their households deserve an added layer of protection.
The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit also reported “breakthrough infections” among individuals already vaccinated and symptomatic episodes even to those fully vaccinated.
Booster shots appeared to be the most viable solution to address this, Treñas stressed.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a “booster dose” refers to another dose of a vaccine that is given to someone who built enough protection after vaccination, but then that protection decreased over time (called waning immunity).
“(Health workers) are becoming more vulnerable as they continue to assist our patients not just the Ilonggos but patients all over the region,” the mayor added.
Treñas specifically sent the request to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 Chief; Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, Inter-Agency Task Force chief implementer; and vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez; Interior Sec. Eduardo Año; and NTF Deputy Chief Implementer Sec. Vivencio Dizon.
“It cannot be overemphasized that we must exhaust all our means to equip our medical frontliners as they are considered as our warriors in our perennial fight against COVID-19,” Treñas added.
“Our success in our containment measures greatly depends on their forces in treating our afflicted brethren. One medical frontliner that may fall ill is equivalent to a significant number of patients that could have been taken care of,” he said.
Meanwhile, Treñas also noted that the city has procured “more than enough” vaccines for the entire population, albeit the stocks arriving in tranches.
Some 54.70 percent of the population already received their first dose, as of Sept. 8; 30.24 percent completed their vaccination.
“We are expecting to achieve 50 percent fully vaccinated constituents by the end of September. As such, it is safe to say that we are capable of rolling out booster shots for our frontliners without compromising the rest,” Treñas added./PN
