The Pasig City government targets to inoculate about 60 to70 percent of the city’s population as it began a simulation of the national immunization campaign on Wednesday.

“When vaccinations start, a big challenge will be the timing. The vaccines and also the people who will be vaccinated, can’t arrive late. Masisira ang bakuna (The vaccine will spoil),” Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto said in his Twitter post.

Sotto said the city’s transport department is now planning for the traffic regulations for the vaccination activities.

During its meeting, the transport department presented to Sotto its planned traffic routes from barangays to the vaccination sites.

“We have been tirelessly preparing for the vaccination program with the goal in mind of being ready at any time the day that the vaccines arrive in the Philippines, we should be ready and we will be ready,” Sotto said.

The city government plans to inoculate about 5,600 residents daily, which will be facilitated by its three teams in 16 vaccination sites, Sotto said.

“I believe that this program for vaccination is beyond just a medical program or exercise. Instead, it’s a message of hope to all of us Pasigueños and to all of us Filipinos,” he said.

The city government earlier signed a tripartite agreement with the national government and the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca to acquire 400,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines for its residents.

Sotto said the city government has allotted funds amounting to at least PHP300 million in preparation for the city-wide Covid-19 vaccination program.

The Pasig city’s vaccinators also went through comprehensive training on the Covid-19 vaccine deployment, facilitation, and inoculation plan.

Sotto noted the local government should be equipped and ready to mobilize once the Covid-19 vaccines arrive in the country.

San Juan prepares for inoculation

In San Juan, the city government has begun coordinating with the cold-chain facility providers following the national government’s pronouncement on the possible arrival of the Pfizer vaccines by February.

Mayor Francis Zamora said the city government has entered talks with the cold chain storage facilities and other mobile cold chain providers within Metro Manila, to facilitate the vaccine deployment.

The Pfizer vaccine needs a negative 70°C storage temperature.

“We were informed during our last Metro Manila Council meeting with vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez of the possibility of Pfizer vaccines being allocated to Metro Manila LGUs. In preparation for this, we are coordinating with private cold chain facilities already,” Zamora said in a social media post.

He said the city government only plans to rent the cold chain facility for the Pfizer vaccines.

“Since San Juan is just a small city and a relatively small population, we do not need to build nor buy cold chain facilities and equipment because there would be no use for this after we have vaccinated everyone,” he added.

The city government has been scaling up its efforts to support the national government with its vaccination campaign.

It recently signed a tripartite agreement with the government and AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company for the procurement of 100,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

“As for our San Juan City procured AstraZeneca vaccine, which we have already procured 100,000 doses of, the requirement is only 2-8 degrees. We already have existing refrigerators for that,” Zamora said.

Meanwhile, the city government has initiated its major vaccine education campaign dubbed “Ako ay San Juaneño, bakunado at protektado” to inform its residents of the latest updates of the government’s inoculation plan on Covid-19.

“We want to make sure that every San Juaneño will be provided a safe vaccine, we would also want to make them aware and educated on the safety, effectiveness, and reliability of these vaccines. We want to assure them that these vaccines will help us in finally eliminating the dreaded disease,” Zamora said.

This information drive targets to urge residents to get vaccinated, he added.

“One of our main goals is to further increase the number of constituents willing to be vaccinated so we will continuously educate our constituents, and disseminate information to alleviate their fears and to raise the trust and confidence of the people, especially with the type of vaccine, which has to be a vaccine of choice,” Zamora said.

The city government has also concluded the two-day simulation of its vaccination campaign last week as it targets to vaccinate at least 70 percent of its population. (PNA)