COME hell or high water,we will vaccinate.

Thus declared Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, as he proudly announced that the city government was able to vaccinate more than 221,000 individuals in the past rainy days that even included Saturday and Sunday.

Meanwhile, Moreno also expressed thanks to the data of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard (NCVD) which showed that as of July 25, 2021, the city of Manila comprised over 30 percent of the total jabs made in the National Capital Region (NCR), thus becoming the local government unit with the most number of vaccines deployed during the said three-day period amid the heavy rains.

Moreno said he is truly proud and happy at the determination shown by the residents and the vaccinating teams to help achieve herd immunity within the city.

As of this writing, Moreno said that based on data forwarded by Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna and Manila Health Department chief Dr. Arnold Pangan, both of whom head the vaccination program of the local government, the number of individuals who have been vaccinated in the city has already reached 754,070, as of 8 p.m. of July 25. The total vaccines deployed so far is at 1,217,701.

During the heavy downpour in the past week, Moreno, citing a report from Pangan said a total of 221,865 residents also did not mind the bad weather and trooped to the vaccination sites to get jabbed and get protected from falling severe or critical, in case they get infected with COVID-19. The said figures covers a seven-day period of from July 19 to July 25, 2021.

“Our fellow workers from the MHD also deserve to be commended. Sumuong sila sa baha. Di sila natinag at di nila inalintana ang malakas na ulan at baha, ganundin ang mga Batang Maynila na nakikinig sa ating panawagan na magpabakuna,” Moreno said.

Meanwhile, the NCVD statistics showed that from July 23 to 25, Manila topped other cities in the metro in terms of the number of vaccines deployed, followed by Quezon City and Caloocan City.

On Sunday, Manila was also one of only three cities that continued its vaccination program despite the day being a weekend and the heavy rains.

Of the 268, 263 vaccines deployed from July 23 to July 25 in the entire NCR, Manila had a share of 84,985 or over 30 percent of the said total number.

Meanwhile, Moreno and Lacuna Monday broke ground for the construction of a new Manila Science High School on Taft Avenue, Manila as part of the mayor’s commitment to make public schools at par with private ones.

The two were joined city engineer Armand Andres, department of tourism chief Charlie Dungo, division of city school superintendent Magdalena Lim, City Architect Pepito Balmoris and Councilors Charry Ortega and Irwin Tieng, among others.

Moreno said the new Manila Science High School will be fully-airconditioned complete with spacious classrooms numbering 158 in all, 16 offices, a library, canteen, auditorium, gymnasium, two outdoor basketball courts with retractable goal which may be converted to a football field , five stair nodes, a roofdeck outdoor sport and exercise area and elevator units good for 24 persons each or with a total capacity of 120 persons.

The city government had allotted around P1.3 billion for the construction of the building of the new Manila Science High School. Just last week, he and Lacuna also broke ground for the construction of the Rosauro Almario Elementary School for which P1.9 billion had been allocated.

A total of P2 billion had also been allotted for the Dr. Alejandro Albert Elementary School which is yet to be scheduled for groundbreaking.

Moreno, himself a product of public schools, said he wants the public school students in the city to experience the kind of amenities and facilities being enjoyed by students from private schools.

“We want to empower the public education system via good facilities and an environment that is conducive to studying by putting all the necesary ingredients,” the mayor said.

According to Moreno, the Manila Science High School is the first science school in the country.