The city government of San Carlos in Negros Occidental, through its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Vaccine Cluster (VC), will conduct offsite vaccination of senior citizens starting today.

City Health Office Nurse and VC Planning, Campaign Management and Technical Team member Cris Ian Caballero said the move is due to the low percentage of senior citizens who were vaccinated against COVID-19.

He cited that said offsite vaccination will cater to senior citizens who cannot come to the designated vaccination sites particularly the Community Based Rehab Facility and City Hospital.

Dr. Jessa Tiapon, VC Deputy Vice Chair, on the other hand said that with bigger inoculation venues and with a “first come, first serve” basis  there is a high chance of increase in the number of vaccinated individuals and that functions of the city hospital will not be hampered by said activity.

Tiapon advised individuals 60 years old and above or those belonging to the priority A2 group not to be afraid of getting the shot and avail the allocated free vaccine of the government for their protection against the deadly COVID-19.

The offsite vaccination will start in Barangay One wherein individuals to be accommodated are those senior residents of barangays One to Six including Rizal.

Based on records, of the total 14,715 senior citizens in the city, only 1,058 or 7.19% responded to the call for vaccination while as of yesterday, only 302 or 28.5 % of those who agreed to be vaccinated received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines./WDJ