Access to booster shots of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines in Cebu will soon become easier as more pharmacies are joining the “Resbakuna sa Botika” program, a Department of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas official said Friday.

In a meeting with pharmacies and pharmaceutical groups held at the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) in Mandaue City, DOH-7 chief pathologist, Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, discussed the parameters in conducting inoculations at drugstores in the province.

“The meeting was attended well by seven (pharmaceutical companies) namely: Watsons Philippines, Mercury Drug, Rose Pharmacy, 360 Pharmacy, La Nueva Pharmacy, Bing Pharmacy, and Evercare Pharmacy,” Loreche said.

Representatives from the Drugstore Association of the Philippines – Cebu Chapter and the Philippine Pharmaceutical Association – Cebu Chapter also participated in laying down the procedures and protocols for inoculation at their branches, she said.

Loreche added that representatives from the health departments of the local government units of this city and the neighboring cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu also joined the coordination meeting with the drugstores.

“We will try to fine-tune what we have discussed today and it is really a go,” she said, even as she stressed that the “good news is that they (drugstores) will focus on giving booster shots”.

With this development, the health official said they expect a rise in the number of individuals seeking booster jabs.

Cebu province registered 142,525 individuals who have availed of booster shots, which represent only 6.2 percent of the 2.3 million eligible population.

This city accounts for 45 percent or 64,723 of the total number of individuals who had booster shots in the entire Cebu island, with the 44 towns and six components cities recording 38 percent or 54,602.

The cities of Mandue and Lapu-Lapu recorded 16,641 and 6,559 individuals, respectively, who received booster jabs. (PNA)