The city government of Manila began vaccinating senior healthcare workers aged 60 years and above at the Ospital ng Maynila (OM) on Tuesday.

OM director Karl Laqui said about 266 elderly workers will be inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccines.

As of Monday, about 2,396 Manila healthcare workers have already been vaccinated.

Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso was elated that their senior front-liners will finally be protected.

“So far, they seem to be excited, I’m so happy and excited for them. After almost 12 months of uncertainty, things are becoming clearer now, hopefully,” Domagoso, speaking in a mix of English and Filipino, said in an interview.

After the senior medical front-liners, it will be the turn of the rest of the healthcare workers who prefer the AstraZeneca brand over Sinovac.

Simultaneously, the second batch of the Sinovac vaccines is being administered to other medical front-liners at the Sta. Ana Hospital.

Manila received on Monday its second batch of 3,000 doses of Sinovac and 1,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the national government.
So far, Domagoso said their vaccination rollout in the two hospitals is going on smoothly as they did enough simulation exercises.

“Maganda yung time and motion nya. Ang bilis ng proseso so we’re very happy the system works. Wala pa rin siyang glitch for so many days. Ngayon pag nagkaron na tayo ng multiple sites of vaccination, tingin ko magiging swabe na swabe (The time and motion is good, I’m happy with the process as the system works. So far, no glitch has been experienced. Once we have multiple vaccinations sites, I think it will run smoothly),” Domagoso said.

With the increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases in the city — 908 active cases as of Monday — Domagoso reiterated his call for every Manileño to practice self-discipline and follow minimum safety protocols.

“Self-discipline is the most effective tool in mitigating the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said. (PNA)