Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said the city will start vaccinating senior citizens and immunocompromised individuals against coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19, this week.
Treñas said the city government has allotted 450 doses of Sinovac vaccines for senior citizens and another 450 doses for the immunocompromised persons who are residents of the city.
Earlier, the city mayor noted that based on the gathered data of the Iloilo City Health Office, the city has a total of 31,900 senior citizens eligible under the A2 population which entail 61,120 doses of Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine and 16,065 individuals below 60 years old with comorbidities falling under A3 Priority Group entailing 32, 30 doses of Sinovac vaccine.
Aside from the senior citizens and immunocompromised persons, the city will also continue its immunization for the remaining healthcare workers who are not yet vaccinated.
Treñas said 1,000 more health workers will be inoculated starting this week and the incoming weeks until all of them are completed.
So far, 610 health workers in the city have completed their first and second doses of Sinovac vaccines.
Treñas noted earlier that there are still more than 6, 000 healthcare personnel under A1 Priority Group who have not yet been inoculated necessitating approximately 12,000 Sinovac doses.
“Hopefully, we will get more vaccines. Sige man akon lobby for more vaccines,” the city mayor added.
Treñas further noted that the AstraZeneca vaccines which the city has purchased will arrive by July.
Meanwhile, on Friday, April 16,Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced that the Inter-Agency Task Force has approved the inclusion of more sectors to be prioritized for vaccination as economic frontliners under the A4 priority group.
The national task force released the new and final list of the A4 priority group which now includes frontline workers in commuter transport, wet and dry markets, food service, news media, education, specific government agencies, and overseas workers.
The A4 group will be vaccinated after the inoculation of senior citizens and people with comorbidities./WDJ