THE Mandaue City Government has urged frontliners and senior citizens to receive an influenza or flu vaccine and a pneumonia immunization.
Although the Mandaue City Health Office (MCHO) administers these vaccines every year, the number of people getting vaccinated has gone up since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Thelma Suico, MCHO head nurse, said employees of the City Government started coming in last week to get their vaccine shots.
Last year, she said the MCHO was forced to offer unused vaccines to employees of a mall in the city since these would expire in January.
They didn’t want the vaccines to go to waste, she said.
The vaccines, which are free of charge, were provided by the Department of Health 7.
Suico said they received 576 vials of the flu vaccine that can vaccinate 5,760 persons. They also received 400 vials of the pneumonia vaccine that are good for 400 persons.
Suico said pneumonia vaccines are good for up to five years unlike the flu vaccine, which is only good for one year.
The MCHO has also distributed vaccines to most of the city’s 27 barangays. Only Barangays Alang-Alang, Cabancalan and Jagobiao have yet to get theirs, Suico said.
Although the flu and pneumonia vaccines won’t protect the public from Covid-19, at least people will get protection from these two common diseases, she said.
Many of the symptoms of the novel coronavirus are similar to the flu, Suico said, adding that some Covid-19 patients ended up dying of pneumonia. (KFD)