The city government of San Carlos in Negros Occidental thru its City Health Office (CHO) exceeded its expected number of COVID-19 vaccine recipients on its first day of the offsite vaccination on Thursday, May 27, at the Barangay 1 covered court.

City Health Office (CHO) nurse and member of the vaccine cluster, Cris Ian Caballero, said that they expected around 200 senior citizens to be inoculated on the first day but 340 elderly were catered mostly from barangays 1 and 2.

Caballero encouraged other senior citizens to get vaccinated since they need it the most to fight COVID-19 being in the vulnerable sector.

He added that this is another way to help the government in reaching the herd immunity.

He also urged the senior citizens of barangays 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and Rizal to coordinate with their barangay midwives and barangay health workers for their schedule and tickets for the inoculation.

CHO continued its vaccination yesterday for barangays 3, 4 and 5 and on Monday for barangays 6 and Rizal. They will also extend the vaccination program on Tuesday, June 1, if there are still vaccines left and for senior citizens who didn’t appear on their scheduled dates.

The city had allocated 147 AstraZeneca vials for this batch where each vial catered 10 to 12 people.

Caridad Ortega, 83, and Carmelito Ortega, 84, said that when the vaccination started, they too wanted to get vaccinated for their protection.

They also added that since the program is intended for the people they grabbed the opportunity because it is for their own welfare./WDJ