BACOLOD City – The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the COVID-19 Vaccination Council (CoVaC) here will strictly implement a “no appointment, no vaccination” policy.
The CoVac earlier issued an advisory temporarily suspending the mass vaccination at SM City-Bacolod on May 7.
They needed to re-assess protocols and procedures, including crowd control, to implement a more orderly and safer flow of vaccination, it said.
Bacolod conducted a five-day mass vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at the Cinema lobby (south wing of SM City) for the remaining frontline healthcare workers, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities. It kicked-off on May 3 and would last until May 7 supposedly.
“But nagproblema kay medyo nagdamo ang tawo,” said City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of the EOC.
She added: “Ang aton natigana everyday nga number of (vaccines) naga doble permi tungod may ara gina-accommodate nga wala naka-register or naga-walk-in lang.”
“Indi ta gusto ma-expose ang tawo nga ara dira nga nagapabakuna. We want to limit the number of persons nga ara sa vaccination center at one time… at specific time,” she stressed.
Ang said they are limiting the inoculation to only 200 vaccinees daily, and they would only entertain those who have pre-registered.
Their schedule of vaccination is based on a first-come first-served sequence, Ang pointed out.
The vaccination at SM City will resume on Monday, May 10.
To avail one’s self of the free vaccination, register first via this link: tinyurl.com/bcdceironline
MORE VACCINES
Meanwhile, the city government is appealing for more vaccines against COVID-19 amid the spike in new cases.
“We are being hit hard by this new wave of COVID-19 infections,” said Mayor Evelio Leonardia in his letter to Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force for COVID-19, asking for more vaccine allocation.
“Ramping up our vaccination program will be critical to saving lives and restoring economic activity in our city,” the mayor added.
Hospitals and intensive care units are now nearing their full capacity. Staff shortages are reported, too, said Leonardia.
The EOC recorded an “alarming” increase of 422 percent in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Bacolod, from the 271 cases in March to 1,415 in April.
“We have been doing our very best to be ahead in terms of measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. We are also on pace to have more new cases as we continue to intensify contact tracing and expand targeted testing,” Leonardia said.
He added: “As city mayor, I prioritize the health and welfare of our citizens above all other considerations. We will spare no effort to ensure that Bacolodnons can get vaccinated quickly and effectively.”
Bacolod was among the very first local government units in the country to secure 650,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines. But these doses won’t be delivered until the third quarter of the year, he said.
“While we have already started to roll out our vaccination program, our allocation from the national government comes in trickles,” the mayor said.
The city has so far received 19,160 vaccine doses from the national government – 11,993 were inoculated out of its 424,992 residents eligible for vaccination.
“Because we are experiencing a sharp increase in new cases and the threat of even faster spread, we need to accelerate the pace of vaccinations to move through the priority groups more quickly,” the mayor added./PN
