ILOILO City – Vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) here are running out fast. According to the city government, the 14,000 it currently has will only last a week or up to June 23.
“We can only do so much at the local level,” said Mayor Jerry Treñas yesterday.
He thus asked for more vaccine allocations particularly for “high-risk senior citizens, religious leaders and economic frontliners” in a letter to Health secretary Francisco Duque III who chairs the Inter-Agency Task Force and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., also the National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer.
The city government’s vaccination rollout is “doing well”, according to Treñas, but more supplies are needed.
The metropolis got a total of 34,524 single-dose vials Sinovac and 1,688 10-dose vials or 16,880 doses AstraZeneca.
Some 8,000 have been fully vaccinated with two doses, while 40,000 received their first dose and waiting for their second dose depending on prescribed intervals.
The city, with its own AstraZeneca orders to start arriving in July, targets to vaccinate 331,981 or 70 percent of 474,258 total population.
Treñas also requested for urgent provisions of High Flow Oxygen Therapy (HFOT).
HFOT, a form of respiratory support used in the hospital where oxygen, often in conjunction with compressed air and humidification, is delivered to patient at rates of flow higher than the traditional procedure.
“On behalf of the city government and the Ilonggos, we appeal for your kind consideration to provide support in terms of the following: PhilHealth reimbursement to all hospitals, medical supplies and equipment such as ventilators, medications such as Remdesivir and Tocilizumab, and deployment of more hospital personnel,” Treñas added.
WHERE ARE THE VACCINES?
Business groups, doctors, lawyers, educators, artists, and sugar planters are storming the national government with appeals for more vaccines for the city and province of Iloilo which are currently under modified enhanced community quarantine.
The latest to make an appeal is the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers, the umbrella organization of 16 sugar planters and farmers’ associations, with a membership of not less 5,000 sugarcane farmers and workers.
“Our community is facing a daunting challenge brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. We in the sugar industry also feel the brunt of the current situation. It affects not only the sugar planters but also the thousands of workers dependent on our industry,” the group stressed in a letter to Duque and Galvez.
The only way to “fight this pandemic and alleviate our economic woes” is to vaccinate as many people as possible, it said.
“Our workers need the vaccine so they could go back to work and no longer be afraid of being infected or get severely sick,” according to Danilo Abelita, chairman of the board and president of the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers.
First to make the call were the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Iloilo Economic Development, Inc., Iloilo Business Club-Iloilo, POPA Agriculture Cooperative, and Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Iloilo, Inc. (FCCCII).
The Philippine College of Physicians-Panay Chapter, followed suit.
And just recently, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)-Iloilo Chapter, which has 1,128 active members led by Atty. Lorena Pearl Tubongbanua, also appealed for additional vaccines.
According to the group, several of its members got infected, too, and some even died.
The spread of the virus has also caused the closure of courts, depriving litigants and stakeholders in the justice system efficient and prompt service, it added.
The University of the Philippines in the Visayas (UPV) through Chancellor Clement Camposano also appealed for greater vaccine allocation.
“We have done our best to abide by the health protocols in place. Nevertheless, the recent, rapid, and alarming increase in COVID cases has translated to an increase in the number of infections among our faculty and staff, and have caused growing anxiety within the UPV community,” said Camposano.
Rommel Flogen, president of the Ilonggo Artists Festival Association Inc., made a similar appeal.
“This public health concern directly affects our local economy…(T)he live events sector is suffering from the effects of strict quarantine protocols and sudden changes to the quarantine status. By massive vaccination we hope to achieve herd immunity,” he stressed.
Surge in case admissions in Panay Island now overwhelmed hospitals and health care facilities in Iloilo City as regional center.
Medical professionals have raised concerns that “quality patient care has become compromised due to lack of medical supplies, manpower and funds.”
City hall has hired additional nurses, nursing aides and utility workers but still not enough to augment the human resource requirement of hospitals.
It has also provided board and lodging for uniformed health personnel augmenting the hospitals, although they can be pulled out any time when their agencies need them. (With a report from Iloilo City PIO/PN)
