By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Bacolod City COVID-19 Vaccination Council (CoVaC) announced yesterday that they will stop accepting walk-ins in their vaccination centers starting today.

City Administrator Em Ang, executive director for the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said instead of accepting walk-ins, they have urged the public to instead wait to be notified of their schedule through text message by the vaccination team.

“We regret that we will not be able to cater to walk-ins anymore,” Ang said.

She also recommended to the public to go to their nearest barangay vaccination centers to avail of free COVID-19 vaccines.

Based on CoVaC’s report yesterday, by around 12:00 noon, the vaccination centers at the Ayala Malls Capitol Central, Robinsons Place and SMX Convention Center have already reached their maximum number of vaccinees for the day.

Records coming from the EOC with regards to the release of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine show that 1,000 doses were allocated to the Ayala Malls Capitol Central, while Robinsons Place and SMX Convention Center received 500 doses each.

Some barangays in the city have also opted to continue accepting walk-ins, although they are limiting acceptance to their respective residents only.

Even though the crowded vaccination centers have become a problem, the EOC had already stated that overall it is still a good indication as vaccine acceptability is growing.

However, the decision to stop accepting walk-ins also stemmed from President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement last Saturday, July 24, wherein he told local government units in the country to stop accepting walk-ins and instead adopt another system which would prevent long queuing in the vaccination centers./DGB, WDJ