THE city is planning on putting up more vaccination centers in the city to further speed up the rollout of COVID-19 jabs in Baguio, Mayor Benjamin Magalong said on Tuesday.
Currently, the city is eyeing the potential use of portions of Baguio Country Club and Mt. Carmel in Dizon Subdivision for vaccination purposes.
However, the city is still looking into getting the private sector more involved, not just in the acquisition of vaccines but also in the process of actual vaccinations.
According to Magalong, it is crucial to speed up the process of vaccinations as the city is expecting the influx of more vaccine doses in the coming months.
“As much as possible, we’re inviting more participation from the private sector because when the bulk of our vaccines arrive starting July, August, we will need to be very aggressive and fast in distributing the vaccines,” Magalong said.
Magalong said that there is a need to speed up the utilization of vaccines in order to reach the city’s vaccination targets by November of this year.
Magalong previously said that the city is capable of reaching some 60 percent of the city’s population for vaccination, a lower estimate from previous figures from earlier in the year.
According to Magalong, projections based on current data suggest that the city can reach 60 percent of its population to be vaccinated, comprising 190,000 individuals, but only if vaccine supply remains steady and vaccination figures remain consistent.
Some 18,432 shots of the Sinovac vaccine and 13,374 shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been utilized for some 63 percent of the total target of 50,152 individuals under the A1, A2 and A3 priority groups.
The target is lower than previous targets set by the government earlier in the year, which were more optimistically eyeing an 80 percent coverage of the city’s population.
