“IF YOU offer the virus an opportunity, it spreads,” health experts say. Hence, Angeles City Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr. has expanded its citywide rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations with a dose of urgency as the city braces under Alert Level 4 due to the high number of coronavirus cases, the Department of Health (DoH) reported.
The DoH has placed eight areas in the National Capital Region and over 25 others nationwide, including Angeles City under Alert Level 4 where healthcare utilization rate (HCUR) is higher than 70 percent and classified as moderate- to critical-risk.
In Metro Manila, areas under Alert Level 4 are Quezon City, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Taguig, Makati, Malabon, San Juan and Pateros. Also under Alert Level 4 are Cordillera Administrative Region – Apayao, Baguio City, Benguet; Region 1- Ilocos Norte; Region 2 – Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino; Region 3 – Angeles City, Bataan, Olongapo City, Pampanga, Tarlac; Region 4-A – Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Lucena City; Region 6 – Iloilo, Iloilo City; Region 7 – Cebu, Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City; Region 8 – Tacloban City; Region 10 – Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro City, Camiguin; Region 11 – Davao City; Region 12 – General Santos City.
As of August 22, another record daily rise in cases in Angeles City with 123 additional COVID-19 infections and 3 new fatalities; the city logged a total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at 8,842 with 7,311 total discharged/recoveries and with death toll at 368.
To date, the Angeles City COVID-19 Working Committee has recorded a total of 127,258 vaccinees who received their first dose while 73,384 are already fully vaccinated of the COVID-19 vaccine (AstraZeneca, Janssen, Moderna, Pfizer, Sinovac).
Experts emphasize that widespread vaccination points the way out of the pandemic. The problem with public health measures is that you cannot use that in winning a pandemic. You have to bring in vaccines to the grassroots level aggressively to bring it down.
EXHAUSTING REASONABLE METHODS
The city government is exhausting all means to encourage and instill a sense of urgency at this time. According to Chief Adviser and Tactician IC Calaguas, “We can’t take our foot off the gas pedal. We still have little ways to go, this is the last mile, and we really need people to look at it as the last mile. It’s always the hardest to get to that finish line and we’re not there yet. The encouragement that we have is, please don’t take your foot off the gas pedal.”
Executive Assistant IV Reina Manuel, meanwhile, said the city’s COVID-19 Working Committee has made a lot of strides as it relates to vaccine availability. “When we think back to the very beginning of the vaccine roll-out, our stumbling block wasn’t vaccination sites or storage facilities, it was the availability of the vaccine and now we’re on the other side where we have regular allocations from the DoH and schemes like Ronda Bakuna, Sundo Bakuna, Home Vaccinations for the Bedridden Elderly and PWDs, and it’s just that extra little urge and push to be vaccinated,” Manuel urged.
Home vaccinations started last July and August inoculating 660 bedridden elderly, from 80-99 years old, and 200 persons with disabilities at the comfort of their homes.
No more excuses for the unwilling and undecided. To accelerate the on-going vaccination, six Philippine Rabbit buses and 10 jeepneys are being deployed under the “Sundo Bakuna” program free of charge to fetch individuals or families from the barangay’s designated pick up points to the vaccination sites.
In an accelerated effort to broaden vaccine access and boost the city’s inoculation rates, aside from the intensified operations of the two on-site vaccination sites — the City College of Angeles and Angeles City High School which are only available for Senior Citizens, Persons with Disabilities, and Pregnant Women — Lazatin has also commissioned two mobile clinics to offer jabs in various barangays to those still lacking a shot as cases continue to rise in the city. “We’re going to barangays where residents may have more questions and we can provide good information, good answers and there may be transportation issues.
We’re making sure we get to areas vaccines haven’t been as accessible,” Lazatin pointed out. While another mobile vaccination clinic is intended for the “Ronda Bakuna”. It will have complete medical equipment for the safe transport of the vaccines and another vaccination team from the members of Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center, City Health Office, Angeles City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Gender and Development Office, City Nutrition Office and Business Permit and Licensing Division.
THE BEST THING TO DO
Lazatin said there are a lot of residents who are taking the opportunity to get their second dose as soon as they are eligible, some are not.
He said the COVID-19 Working Committee is reaching out to those people individually to receive their second dose because some residents say they feel that they have had a first dose, and they think it is unneccesary to rush to get a second dose.
“In these pressing times of crisis when we have experienced the Delta variant and we’re likely to see more Delta infections in the coming days or weeks, it’s absolutely the best thing to do to get vaccinated especially the second dose as you’re eligible and not to wait,” Lazatin suggested.