Barangay health workers (BHWs) and medical front-liners in private clinics in Cebu City started receiving coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines on Wednesday.

Dr. Jeffrey Ibones, head of the City Health Department, said they target to inoculate 1,600 BHWs and health workers in private clinics using the AstraZeneca vaccines that the city government received from the Department of Health.

The vaccination of BHWs was done in two rollout sites, at the Robinsons Galleria Cebu mall for health workers in the south district and University of Cebu (UC)-Banilad Campus in Cebu City’s north district.

The Robinsons mall management and the UC offered their spaces to serve as vaccination sites as the rollout will continue for the next three days.

“We hope to fast-track the inoculation of our healthcare workers in the coming days, as we aim to expand our vaccination program,” Mayor Edgardo Labella said on Wednesday via social media.

Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak, who led the vaccine rollout at the UC campus, said the inoculation went smoothly due to the determination of the health workers to be vaccinated.

He said aside from BHWs, private clinic health workers also came to get the shots.

He added that they are expecting that the rollout sites will exceed their target to vaccinate 100 individuals on Wednesday.

Labella said the city’s Vaccine Advisory Board continues to scout for more vaccination sites aside from the already identified places. (PNA)