AT LEAST 80 percent of Baguio City's population is being eyed for vaccination against coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Dr. Rowena Galpo, Baguio City Health Services Office (CHSO) chief, said that based on their calculations, which targets 80 percent of the population of the city, around 190,000 people will be vaccinated.
Galpo added the target age group is 18 years old and above and would be vaccinated twice.
"If I may have to explain, we need to have around 80 percent coverage of the population for us to have a herd immunity meaning," Galpo cited.
"The 80 percent is enough to be vaccinated that will protect the 100 percent of the population and if we do not meet that, how can we protect all of the population. Once we have ourselves vaccinated, we do not only protect ourselves but our family, the whole city and whole country which is why there is a need for us to cooperate to reach our goal to be protected," she added.
Based on the Covid-19 vaccine rollout procedure, local government units like Baguio City are limited to one dose of wastage.
A vial of the vaccine contains 10 doses and once it is not consumed within six hours, this will have to be disposed.
"We do not want to have many vials to be opened because the tendency is that we will have to dispose of those doses that will not be used. This is the reason why we want to conduct the vaccination in designated vaccination areas and health centers having clustered groups in the city for us to prevent unnecessary wastage aside from effectively managing the manpower and other requirements," Galpo said.
Baguio City residents seeking to undergo the vaccination process will have to register online with the CHSO before proceeding to their designated vaccination centers.
"The online registration is ongoing right now and after being registered, they will be given the area where they are to be vaccinated, this will be followed by counseling and the signing of final consent where individuals will have to sign an informed consent. The individual will then be ushered to the screening area to undergo vital sign examination and history before being ushered to the vaccination area, followed by the post vaccination monitoring area where the individual will be monitored for adverse effects from the vaccine," Galpo added.
CHSO calculates around 15 minutes from registration until vaccination for an individual to undergo the inoculation process.
The number of the individuals would depend on the size of the site and depending on the number of the vaccination teams in a site.
CHSO assured vaccinators are licensed health workers who have undergone training.