Mayor Isko Moreno, Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna and Manila Health Department chief Dr. Arnold Pangan discuss the status of the city government’s vaccination program. Photo by JERRY S. TAN
Isko: Vaccine confidence rising
VACCINE hesitancy in the city of Manila is being replaced by confidence in the jab and the benefit it offers.
Mayor Isko Moreno said this can be gleaned from the city government’s data on the number of people that have been wanting to get jabbed these days, as opposed to the nonchalance during the initial rollout.
To date, Moreno said about 120,000 individuals have been vaccinated by the city government under the supervision of Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna and Manila Health Department headed by Dr. Arnold Pangan. Of the number, about 54,000 have received their second dose.
Moreno said the most recent allotment received by the city from the national government, totalling 4,200 doses, were used up in just a matter of six hours.
He added that the number of persons who have so far registered for the free vaccination in Manila has reached 329,247 as of May 3, 2021.
Moreno said that apparently, the public is emboldened if and when they see others getting vaccinated and their trust and confidence in the vaccines have also been raised.
Way before the vaccines arrived, Moreno and Lacuna have been calling on and strongly urging the residents to avail of the free vaccination, at the same time making them aware of the benefits of getting the jab.
Lacuna was the first city official to have taken the jab, being a doctor and thus falling under the category that had been prioritized by the national government. Fully vaccinated, she now gives the jab in some vaccination sites and even renders ‘home service’ vaccination to bedridden and physically-challenged residents who cannot make it to the said sites.
Moreno had been actively and consistently using every chance he gets to convince his constituents to get vaccinated, explaining that while the jab may not offer immunity, it can at least provide the vaccinee added protection so as not to fall under the severe or critical case if they get infected with the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, the city government administered the Sputnik V (Gamaleya) vaccines from Russia to the medical and health frontliners serving in the national and city health hospitals.
The vaccination was done at the Sta. Ana Hospital headed by Director Dr. Grace Padilla, a day after she joined Moreno, Lacuna and Pangan in receiving the vaccines from the national government as the city’s allotment.
The said hospital also houses the storage facility for the city’s vaccines. The said facility can meet the temperature requirement of any vaccine that may arrive in the country.
