Ninety percent of Makati City’s elderly population are already fully vaccinated, owing to the local government’s house-to-house effort to help them register for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) jabs.

In a television interview, Mayor Abby Binay reported 39,958 senior citizens are now fully vaccinated as of Thursday.

Binay said City Hall staff assisted the elders in the registration process by visiting them at home.

“After they register, pwede na sila pumunta sa vaccination. It’s as if nag-walk-in sila (they can now proceed to the vaccination site. It’s as if they walked in to the inoculation center),” she said on Friday.

Senior citizens also receive gift certificates worth PHP1,000 once they are fully inoculated.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms under home quarantine in Makati City are given home care packages, which contain a home care handbook, alcohol, oral antiseptic, sore throat spray, fever pad, thermometer, washable and disposable face masks, pulse oximeter, vitamins, and medicine for fever.

“We want to make sure that our mild Covid-19 cases have the right equipment to help them monitor themselves at home,” she said. “We have seen to it that the contents of our home care package are useful and responsive to their needs.”

Binay said such initiatives can help decongest hospitals of Covid-19 patients.

“Our goal is to boost the recovery of mild cases right in their homes and prevent their condition from worsening so that they need not go to the hospital for treatment,” she said.

Makati has 1,635 active Covid-19 cases as of Thursday. (PNA)