The city government of Marikina is in the process of achieving its target to vaccinate about 7,800 frontliners in its vaccine program.
Marikina Mayor Marcy Teodoro said that if their vaccines rollout will be finished by tomorrow, they can get another allocation of vaccines from either the Department of Health (DOH) or National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG).
Teodoro said, “Para sa ganun, 100 percent mabakunahan natin ‘yung ating mga medical frontliners o ‘yung mga medical personnel as well as non-medical personnel sa health care system natin.”
[With that, we will vaccinate 100 percent of the medical and non-medical personnel in our health care system.]
He said it is alarming to note that there are currently 36 medical and non-medical personnel in the COVID-19 ward of Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center.
The mayor added, “Kung hindi natin mapangangalagaan ang ating medical frontliners, hindi lang bed capacity ng mga ospital ang magkukulang kung hindi mababawasan tayo correspondingly ng mga medical personnel, kaya gusto natin bigyan sila ng pangangalaga at proteksyon na dulot ng bakuna.”
[If we do not take care of our medical frontliners, not only will hospital bed capacity be reduced but also the number of medical personnel, that is why we want to give them the care and protection of the vaccine.]
Marikina City is offering both CoronaVac and AstraZeneca vaccines, allowing frontliners to choose which one they prefer.
Aside from medical frontliners from the big hospitals, the city’s vaccine program also includes the personnel of small private hospitals and private clinics, non-medical personnel in the hospitals, barangay heath workers, and barangay health response teams.
Teodoro also clarified that some personnel from Philippine National (PNP) are included in the program because they are stationed at the quarantine and isolation facilities and swabbing and testing centers.
He added that members of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) are also a part of the decontamination team of their facilities, while some personnel from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) are also included in the A1 group, the priority list for the vaccines.
Teodoro also said some of their hospitals are already at full capacity, so they are now implementing the referral system where non-COVID-19 patients are sent to smaller hospitals for consultation. – Rod Lagusad
