CEBU CITY—Mayor Edgardo Labella on Friday said nearly 5,000 Covid vaccine doses have already been administered to senior citizens here.
“I am thankful to them for heeding our call to be vaccinated because this is not for oneself alone but also for our loved ones and neighbors,” he said in a mix of Cebuano and English via social media.
The Cebu City Health Department (CHD) has reported a total of 10,403 individuals in the first priority group, including health-care workers, who were already inoculated from March 24 to April 22.
Labella also noted the fast rollout of vaccination for the senior residents being done in three sites in this city, including the University of Cebu-Banilad Campus, Robinsons Galleria, and SM Seaside Cebu.
However, due to the limited supply of vaccines, the Cebu City Vaccination Operations Center has decided to halt the inoculation on Friday noon in the three sites.
Labella said the vaccination will resume next week once the city government receives more doses from the Department of Health in Central Visayas.
Labella, a senior citizen himself, said he is scheduled to get vaccinated on Monday at the SM Seaside site.
He reiterated his call to the elderly to get inoculated to protect themselves from getting severe Covid-19 infection.
“We need all the protection we can get. And we can curb the pandemic together through vaccination, especially if we continue to observe the health protocols,” he added.
On Thursday, Labella officially asked the country’s vaccine czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., to supply Cebu City with additional doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
“As soon as I read the news that vaccine czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., has reported to President Rodrigo Duterte the arrival of additional 500,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine, I immediately communicated with Secretary Galvez,” the mayor said.
Labella said he requested that Cebu City “be given a fair share of these doses” as more and more senior citizens in the city are now willing to be inoculated, based on the city government’s online registration system, “and they are just waiting for these jabs to arrive.”
“Secretary Galvez has also assured us that by June or July, other brands such as Moderna and Pfizer are also expected to arrive,” he said.
The mayor said the city government is trying to be prudent in spending the budget that it has allocated for the purchase of its own vaccines.
He said before the city government decides to buy its own vaccines, it will wait until the national government is done rolling out the free vaccines to the various local government units.
The inoculation of senior citizens in this city has temporarily been suspended due to shortage of vaccines.
The city is yet to receive a word from the Department of Health (DOH) when the next delivery would be.
As of April 22, at least 10,000 senior citizens in Cebu City have signified their intent to be vaccinated against Covid-19 but only half has so far been inoculated out of the 19,000 targeted in an online registration.
The DOH in Central Visayas noted that for the whole region that includes the provinces of Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor and Negros Oriental, at least 572,626 senior citizens have registered for vaccination. PNA