Since the first roll-out of the City of San Fernando COVID-19 vaccination program in March 2021, several steps were taken to make the services better and faster for the qualified vaccine recipients.
Among these steps were the establishment of additional sites and deployment of more personnel in the vaccination–all accomplished in three months’ time.
Data from the City Health Office (CHO) show that from having only the Heroes Hall as lone site for vaccination last March, the City Government now has four active and regular sites to include SM City Pampanga, SM City Telabastagan, Waltermart Mall, and Our Lady of Fatima University.
There are also sites that now host vaccination activities on select dates and conditions, including the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital, GreenCity Medical Center, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Medical Center, Robinsons Starmills Pampanga, and LausGroup Event Centre.
The said sites were established to provide a more accessible vaccination venue to residents under the jurisdictions of the five rural health units.
According to Mayor Edwin “EdSa” Santiago, the said the initiative aims to ramp up the local government’s vaccine roll-out and provide Fernandinos added protection against COVID-19 as early as possible.
“Napakalaki po ng ating pasasalamat sa ating mga partner venues para sa pagbabakuna dahil sa kanilang suporta sa atin. Katulad po ng ating mga partners, ang naisin po natin dito ay upang maging episyente, mabilis, at maayos ang pagbabakuna sa ating mga priority groups nang sa gayon ay matamasa nila ang proteksyon laban sa COVID-19,” he said.
Meanwhile, as of this writing, the City has more than 260 personnel deployed in different vaccination centers.
According to the CHO, this number has been consistently increasing since the roll-out as the needs arise.
Manpower inventory shows that the COVID-19 vaccination team in a center is composed not only of vaccinators, but also of supervisors, cold chain managers, personnel for verification and registration, screeners, composite teams, data managers, usherettes, and check-out personnel.
Personnel for administrative matters, logistics and supplies, emergency response, master listing and scheduling, public order and safety, communications, and barangay affairs are also deployed in the team.
The most recent was the deployment of 20 local government unit employees assigned as vaccination schedulers.
Since the beginning of the roll-out until August 13, 2021, the City has vaccinated 67,418 individuals with first dose and 53,465 others with second dose.
These numbers equate to 27.85% and 22.09%, respectively, of the target 70% population of San Fernando. These include those in priority groups A1 (health workers), A2 (senior citizens), A3 (persons with comorbidities), and, A4 (frontline personnel in essential sectors).
“Itong mga vaccination venue at itong mga datos sa bakuna, hindi po natin makakamit ‘yan kung wala ang ating vaccination team na parang walang kapaguran na nagtatrabaho. Masasabi ko pong sila ang tunay na bagong bayani dahil ang kanila pong trabaho ay sumagip ng buhay, magbigay ng proteksyon, at labanan ang COVID-19 pandemic,” Santiago remarked. – Press Release