No more than 30 percent of Quezon City’s estimated 300,000 senior citizens have been vaccinated so far.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Monday called on their elderly population to get the Covid-19 vaccines and protect themselves against the virus.

“Ang pakiusap ko kina tatay, nanay, tiyong, tiyang, lahat ng ating mga senior citizens na magpabakuna na kayo. Sa datos kasi ng ating Vax to Normal, umabot lamang sa 91,814 ang senior na nababakunahan natin (I encourage our fathers, mothers, uncles, and aunts, all our senior citizens to get vaccinated. Our Vax to Normal data show that we have vaccinated only about 91,814 of our senior citizens),” she said in an interview.

Belmonte said they have come up with strategies to encourage senior citizens to get jabbed, like dedicated registration venues, home service for the immobile, and information drive that all vaccines passed the Food and Drugs Administration and World Health Organization standards.

She also advised her constituents to return for the second dose to complete their protection.

She said others have valid reasons for not coming back or delaying receipt of the second dose, like getting sick or being in lockdown areas, but she said it’s alarming that others think one dose is enough.

“Mababalewala ang ating target population protection kung hindi rin natin mababakunahan ang 80 percent na edad 18 years old pataas (Our target of population protection will be worthless if we will not be able to vaccinate 80 percent of our population aged 18 and above),” she said.

QC’s latest data showed 333,773 have received the first dose, or almost 20 percent of the target 1.7 million, while 97,772 are already fully protected. (PNA)