More booster jabs for CDO assured
NATIONAL vaccination czar Sec. Carlito Galvez is sending more vaccines to Cagayan de Oro City, Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez said on Saturday.
Rodriguez, Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District representative, said Galvez has approved his request for additional booster jabs for his city.
He said the boosters would be coursed through the National Vaccination Operations Center headed by Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje.
He thanked Galvez and Cabotaje for favorably acting on his request.
“We expect delivery in the coming days. We need more vaccines in Cagayan de Oro to inoculate more people. We haven’t achieved herd immunity yet. Those who have completed their two doses need a booster shot amid the threat of omicron variant,” Rodriguez said.
“COVID-19 (coronavirus disease-19) cases in Metro Manila are exponentially rising. Our cases in our city are also significantly going up. Whenever Metro Manila experiences a surge, other cities and provinces are affected. The booster vaccines could save lives and prevent people from getting hospitalized,” Rodriguez said.
Cagayan de Oro logged 11, 16 and 26 Covid-19 cases on January 4, 5 and 6, respectively. On Friday, January 7, it had 43 cases.
Last December 29, Rodriguez sent letters to Galvez and the Department of Health (DoH) asking for more booster Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to be administered to frontline medical workers, senior citizens, persons with commodities, and frontline personnel in essential sectors in Cagayan de Oro.
He said these constituents of his belong to the A1, A2 and A3 priority groups that were vaccinated in April or May, or eight month to nine months ago, with the Chinese-made Sinovac and the United Kingdom’s AstraZeneca, the first two vaccines available in country.
“Based on the DoH mix-and-match advisory, they could receive Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna as booster. However, many of them would prefer Pfizer or Moderna,” Rodriguez said.
