KALIBO, Aklan – This town identified two areas ideal for the rollout of the vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – the Kalibo Pastrana Park covered court and the Aklan Catholic College (ACC) gymnasium both in Barangay Poblacion.
As soon as the vaccines become available, priority groups would be herded in these two spacious sites for inoculation.
The priority groups are medical health workers, senior citizens and indigent families. They will be the first to receive the initial 16,400 vaccines.
Eventually, the rest of Kalibo’s population would be vaccinated, too.
Residents of barangays Old Buswang, Tinigaw, Linabuan Norte, Andagao, Mobo, Bakhaw Sur, Bakhaw Norte and portion of Poblacion will be vaccinated at the ACC gymnasium.
On the other hand, the vaccine rollout for residents of barangays New Buswang, Caano, Mabilo, Tigayon, Estancia, Briones, Nalook and portion of Poblacion will be at the Kalibo Pastrana Park covered court.
Mayor Emerson Lachica bared these plans during a Feb. 22 press briefing together with Kalibo vaccine czar Rey Villaruel and acting municipal health officer Dr. Jocelyn Garcia.
The local government of Kalibo targets to inoculate 90 percent of its 86,000 population.
Vaccination teams are also being organized and trained by Department of Health.
Soon, a mass vaccination simulation exercise will be conducted to assess the operational capability of vaccinators.
The local government of Kalibo recently entered into a confidential disclosure agreement with British pharmaceutical AstraZeneca to purchase COVID-19 vaccines.
It said these would be delivered early March or in the second quarter of this year.
The vaccine is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus (known as an adenovirus) from chimpanzees. It has been modified to look more like coronavirus – although it can’t cause illness.
Once injected, it teaches the body’s immune system how to fight the real virus, should it need to.
Research has shown the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to be highly effective. No one given the vaccine in trials developed severe COVID or needed hospital treatment.
It can also be stored in a normal fridge. This makes it much easier to distribute./PN
