For the past two weeks of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) enforced in Metro Manila, the Quezon City Government has administered nearly 500,000 vaccines to its residents and workers.
From Aug. 6 to 20, a total of 415,923 first doses were administered while 77,077 second dose vaccines were given to vaccinees who belong to the A1 to A5 priority groups under the QCProtekTodo Vaccination Program.
Mayor Joy Belmonte said the city government intensified and maximized every opportunity to vaccinate its residents and workers during the ECQ period.
“Every vaccine we jab is a life we save. So we made full use of all our registration processes – barangay-assisted, QCVaxEasy Portal, company-assisted, homeowners association-assisted, and bakuna nights to reach our target individuals and vaccinate them during the heightened quarantine period when we were given an increased and stable supply of vaccines,” she said.
As of Aug. 21, the city government has administered 2,143,698 vaccine doses. More than 1.4 million individuals or 86.36% of the 1.7 million target population have received their first doses, while more than 675,000 or 42.06% of the same target population have been inoculated with the second dose.
The Quezon City government is determined to reach population protection by setting the target to 1.7 million or 80% of its adult population, especially during this surge of cases.
Mayor Belmonte acknowledged the support of all individuals and groups who are part of the vaccination program, including the national government.
“The national government recognizes that Quezon City has the largest city population in the entire country and cumulatively, the most number of cases. With that, they continue to support our vaccination program by providing an appropriate number of vaccine doses to us.”
All vaccines allocated to the city were rolled out immediately with an average of 200,000 individuals inoculated per week with at least one dose.
Joseph Juico, co-chair of the city’s Task Force Vax to Normal, said that vaccination efforts will remain in full swing as long as there is a supply of vaccine.
“Our goal is to vaccinate at the quickest possible time. That is why we have been expanding our efforts by partnering with different organizations and opening 40-50 vaccination sites in a day,” he said.
Mayor Belmonte assured everyone that once the city government has achieved population protection, the vaccination efforts will not stop for as long as there are eligible QC residents or workers wanting to be vaccinated.
“We are closer now to our target, but this does not mean that we will stop. Instead, we will continue to vaccinate the adult population as long as there are still vaccines for all of us,” Belmonte said. (QC LGU) – jlo