By Cleizl Pardilla
The Caloocan City local government began rolling out yesterday (March 30) COVID-19 vaccines to senior citizens and persons with comorbidities, sectors on the A2 and A3 priority lists of the World Health Organization.
Since March 30, 30 barangays in the city have received a total of 4,800 COVID-19 vaccines for these categories.
The Caloocan LGU said individuals who registered at their online profiling platform will be prioritized, while walk-ins will be inoculated depending on the availability of vaccines at the site.
The elderly are receiving the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, while persons with comorbidities can choose either AstraZeneca or CoronaVac.
Fast lane for medical frontliners
While the mass vaccination of vulnerable sectors in Caloocan has begun, the Caloocan LGU emphasized that medical frontliners and healthcare professionals — the individuals in the A1 category — remain the state’s priority.
The city has established COVID-19 vaccination fast lanes in all vaccination sites because “prayoridad ng pamahalaang lungsod na ma-protektahan ang ating healthcare workers na nakikipaglaban at humaharap sa pandemya [it is the priority of the city government to protect our healthcare workers who are fighting and facing the pandemic],” Caloocan city Mayor Oca Malapitan said.
Community swab testing
Amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases, the Caloocan LGU conducts free community swab testing for their residents and individuals working in the city, “upang mas mapabilis pa ang pagkakakilala sa mga indibidwal na positibo sa COVID-19 at kaagad na ma-isolate [in order to speed up the identification of individuals who are positive for COVID-19 and their immediate isolation],” Malapitan said.
The community swab testing will be conducted from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon today (March 31) at the Barangay 8 hall covered court on Salmon Street.
Caloocan residents receive food boxes
To ensure that Caloocan residents will not go hungry during the implementation of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), Malapitan distributed food boxes to various barangays in the city, saying “ang pamamahagi ng ayuda ay bilang tugon sa pagdedeklara ng ECQ sa buong NCR at mga karatig-lalawigan [the distribution of aid is a response to the declaration of ECQ over the entire National Capital Region and nearby provinces].”
The city chief executive appealed to the public for their cooperation and called on them to practice minimum health standards.
The latest data from the city shows that 17,940 residents have been infected by COVID-19: 1,223 are active cases, 16,169 are recoveries, and 548 are deaths.
