ILOILO City – Yesterday’s three-hour vaccination dry run to test the city’s preparedness for the rollout of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines went smoothly despite minor glitches.
“Practice makes perfect,” said Jeck Conlu, spokesperson of the city government’s COVID team, hinting of more vaccination simulations in every district.
The metro’s first mock vaccination began at 8 a.m. It ran the process from storage to vaccination and post-vaccination observation to familiarize 115 vaccinators (nurses and midwives) trained by the Department of Health.
A total of 500 participants had their temperatures checked before entering Central Philippine University (CPU) in Jaro district which served as the vaccination center.
They were also required to sign a consent form at the university’s auditorium.
Majority of those who joined were personnel of the city government’s Public Safety and Transportation Management Office and General Services Office, as well as select residents from various barangays.
A total of 100 people were actually vaccinated against flu.
Those already got the shots were instructed to stay at an observation area for 30 minutes to one hour to check for any immediate adverse reactions from the jab.
Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna of the City Health Office said it took eight to 13 minutes for an individual to get inoculated after registration.
Ambulances were on standby for emergencies.
“First pa lang ini sang mga series of simulations naton,” said Conlu, adding they may conduct another one in Mandurriao district next week.
While describing the event as successful, Conlu acknowledged there were areas that needed improvement.
He would discuss these together with the city’s COVID team in a post-evaluation.
Mayor Jerry Treñas, too, personally observed the activity.
“There were some glitches that we have to clear out,” he said, citing the need for more electric fans especially for vaccinators wearing protective gear.
“Lain gid man kun naga-obra kita sang simulation nga ga usar sang flu shots kay ti actual gid ni ya nga injection-nan mo,” the mayor added.
Aside from CPU, the city government is also eyeing other schools as vaccination sites such as the University of San Agustin, Ateneo de Iloilo, West Visayas State University, Iloilo Science and Technology- University, University of the Philippines, and John B. Lacson Maritime Foundation University.
Early this month, the city government entered into a tripartite agreement with AstraZeneca and the national government for the advance procurement of 600,000 vials of AZD1222 Vaccine that could cover 300,000 city residents (the vaccination requires two doses).
The target number of persons for vaccination is 60 percent of the city’s total population of about 474,250.
AZD1222 Vaccine is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus (known as an adenovirus) from chimpanzees. It has been modified to look more like coronavirus – although it can’t cause illness.
When the vaccine is injected into a patient, it prompts the immune system to start making antibodies and primes it to attack coronavirus infection.
The vaccines, according to Treñas, are projected to arrive in May at the earliest./PN
