ILOILO City – The city government has dedicated every Thursday of the week to people – pre-registered or not – intending to get vaccinated for free against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in all its inoculation sites.
Mayor Jerry Treñas lamented that some people were picky.
“May mga pumoluyo kita nga nagapili pa sang bakuna. Aton dapat pasudlon sa ulo ta we are getting the best vaccines, and the best vaccines are what’s available,” he said.
People from Iloilo province are also welcome to the city’s vaccination centers every Thursday.
“We need to vaccinate as many as we can. The Delta variant is more infectious and more virulent,” said Treñas.
This scheme kicked off yesterday at the city’s vaccination centers at the Iloilo Business Park (Megaworld) and Ateneo de Iloilo in Mandurriao district, and at Central Philippine University and Robinsons Place Jaro.
The “walk-ins” were only required to bring a valid proof of identification.
“As long as we have the vaccines, we will open our vaccination centers to all interested persons,” said Treñas.
The brand used for yesterday’s inoculation was the China-made Sinovac.
According to Jeck Conlu, spokesperson of the Iloilo City COVID-19 Team, some people scheduled to be vaccinated yesterday did not show up because they preferred other vaccine brands.
“So gin-open ta para sa gusto ‘ya magpa-vaccine. Damo man gusto galing wala sila matagaan ticket,” Conlu explained.
He appealed to those who were given vaccination tickets to follow their schedule.
“All vaccines are effective to protect us from COVID-19,” said Conlu.
COVID-19 vaccines were thoroughly studied and were proven to be safe and effective, according to Treñas.
“The death toll among unvaccinated people is increasing. Let us do our part to protect one another. Get vaccinated,” said Treñas.
He added: “Ginapasiguro ko, once mag-abot na ang tanan nga bakuna nga ginbakal sang syudad (AstraZeneca and Novavax) and when the time comes that the Inter-Agency Task Force will allow us to have booster shots, Iloilo City will have more than enough vaccines.”/PN
