THE vaccination of Baguio City’s minor population is going smoothly, Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong touted on Monday.
According to Magalong, the city is averaging some 800 minors vaccinated daily, ever since the city opened up its vaccination sites to minors last October 29.
As of the start of the week, some 11,000 minors have been jabbed with their first dose of the two-dose vaccines available for younger individuals.
By November 11, according to the City Health Services Office(CHSO), the number of children children aged 12 to 17 inoculated with the first dose of Pfizer stood at 16,784, This only after only eight days of rolling the vaccination for the younger population as protection against COVID-19.
Dr. Rowena Galpo, head of the CHSO, said inoculation of the said age group started on November 3 with an average daily jab of 2,500 for the first five days.
Of the 16,784 individuals inoculated as of November 11 with at least one dose, 2,504 had comorbidities while 14,280 belonged to the rest of the pediatric population aged 12 to 17 group.
Magalong also assured that there will be a continued supply of vaccines for minors, who are only able to receive the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines as the other brands are not designed for younger recipients.
The mayor said that the city has already requested for some 10,000 doses of vaccines, and has been given the assurance that some 27,000 more total jabs of Pfizer and Moderna will be made available to the city in short order.
To date, the city has hit more than 90 percent vaccination among residents, with the fully vaccinated numbering around 70 percent of the city’s 281,000 eligible and targeted adult population.
“If we target 80 percent vaccination coverage as set by DOH and assuming that we will maintain an average of 2,500 first dose jabs per day, then we will be able to reach the target in 14 vaccination days or by Nov. 20,” Galpo said during the management committee meeting of city department heads on Tuesday, November 8.
She explained that if the target vaccination for the pediatric population is 100 percent, this can be achieved in 17 vaccination days or by Nov. 24.
However, the CHSO and the risk communication teams of the city need to reach out to parents and guardians to allow their children to be vaccinated since out of the 42,811 pediatric population, only more than 23,000 have registered in the bakuna.baguio.gov.ph website for vaccination. – with reports from Jessa P. Samidan
