CAGAYAN de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno instructed the city health on Wednesday, April 21, to start the vaccination rollout for senior citizens as soon as possible.
"Sugod na gyud ta sa senior citizens kay lisod man kaayo nga we get fixated diha sa frontliners nga gamay na lang kaayo," Moreno said.
"Ang akong instruction, undang nata sa frontliners kay daghan nagasakay diha nga dili na legit. Let’s go to the senior citizens," he added.
As of 5 p.m. of April 20, a total of 11,684 frontline healthcare workers have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccines, both Sinovac and AstraZeneca.
Among the 11,684 vaccinees, 5,295 already got their second dose of the Sinovac vaccine, according to Acting City Health Officer Dr. Lorraine Nery.
Nery said she received the go signal from the Department of Health (DOH)-Northern Mindanao Assistant Regional Director Ellenietta Gamolo to proceed with the vaccination rollout for the next priority group.
"We can proceed ahead kay ato naman na reconcile ang atong number of targets. So the next allocation will be for senior citizens," Nery said.
Moreno hoped that the DOH will advise the central office in Manila that Cagayan de Oro is ready to start the vaccination for senior citizens.
"Para moabot na sad nang mga bakuna kay di man sad sila maka produce og bakuna on their own," Moreno said.
The mayor added that the city's senior citizens are anticipating for their turn to be vaccinated.
"We cannot afford to delay and no more blame calling or blaming each other. Ang ato lang is mapaspasan nato," Moreno said.
"Let's be efficient para we can service as many as we can kay naa pa nang variants na problema," he added.
Moreno also mentioned that while he has the choice to get his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, he opted to wait for the vaccination rollout of the next priority group so he would be the first to get vaccinated and set an example among senior citizens that the vaccines are safe.