By Ryan Lesigues
The San Juan City local government unit (LGU) aims to complete by Friday the inoculation of 3,456 healthcare workers (HCWs) who registered for their vaccination program, Mayor Francis Zamora said.
He added that once the vaccination of HCWs is done, they will immediately start the inoculation of the city’s senior citizens.
“We are guaranteeing 100% vaccination sa bawat San Juaneñong gustong magpabakuna [of every San Juaneño who wants to be inoculated],” he also said.
The 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that the city procured are set to arrive in the third quarter of 2021.
The San Juan LGU conducted yesterday the third round of the vaccination rollout for those on the priority list.
These include swabbers, contact tracers, emergency transport officers, employees of the City Health Office, Department of Education healthcare workers in local health and nutrition sections, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office employees, City Social Welfare and Development employees, barangay health workers, and members of the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) who are directly involved in the city’s COVID-19 response.
A total of 629 frontliners were vaccinated on March 23, including San Juan Medical Center (SJMC) opthalmologist Margaret Aguilar.
“I chose SinoVac because it really doesn’t matter what brand we get, what matters is the protection we receive from the vaccine. I see patients so I want to make sure I protect them by protecting myself,” Dr. Aguilar said.
As of 8 a.m. of March 23, there were 35,805 total registrants in San Juan City’s COVID-19 Vaccination Registration. These represent 41.93% of the population of 85,400 individuals targeted for vaccination, or 70% of the total population of the city required to achieve herd immunity.
Meanwhile, Zamora also said the city is still able to receive COVID-19 patients.
“As of now, SJMC is at 50% capacity, Kalinga Center is at 85% capacity, and San Juan National High School is at 65% capacity. Hindi pa kami kinakapos (We do not lack for capacity), but we are already preparing and we are about to open an additional quarantine facility in partnership with DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways].
“We will be using container vans with 26 units, each with their own air conditioner, toilet, and bath,” he explained.
The new quarantine facility will also have its own x-ray machine, and will be staffed by personnel from the city health office.
Zamora also appealed to his constituents to obey city ordinances as well as the guidelines set in Inter-Agency Task Force Resolution No. 104 of March 21, which lists additional measures to address the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country
