THE Davao City Government opened on Tuesday, June 2, the city’s biggest vaccination site at the Azuela Cove in Lanang that can cater to up to 1,000 vaccinees per day.
City Health Office (CHO) Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said in a radio interview on Wednesday, June 2, the City will be administering the vaccines at The Tent with the Azuela Cove.
“This is actually so far the biggest vaccination site nga atong na-establish (that we have established) here in Davao City, which could cater up to 1,000 recipients or 1,000 vaccines per day,” Lopez said in an interview with 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
Azuela Cove’s The Tent is a 2,000-square-meter air-conditioned events venue wherein future conventions, festivals, and other special events are targeted to be held. It has a capacity of about 1,500 people.
The Azuela Cove is a 25-hectare waterside development project of Aviana Development Corporation, a joint venture partnership between real estate giant Ayala Land and homegrown The Alcantara Group of Companies. Azuela has been the venue of the Ironman 70.3 Davao race in 2018 and 2019.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio recently said the City is targeting to vaccinate at least 10,000 Dabawenyos per day in order to achieve the targeted herd immunity before the end of this year.
But Duterte-Carpio said this will only be achievable if there will be ample and stable supply of vaccines in the city.
Vaccines running low
Lopez also expressed concern about the current supply of vaccines in the city.
“Hinaot unta atong bakuna dili madelay ang pag allocate from the national government kay sa pagkakaron nahurot na ang Astra[Zeneca], nahurot na ang Pfizer. Natagaan ta additional vaccines from DOH [Department of Health] 11, katong Sinovac pero pahurutay napud ning Sinovac. Hopefully dili mastop o mainterrupt ang supply nato so that makapadayon ta og ma-maximize atong pagpabakuna (We’re hoping that the vaccine allocation from the national government won’t be delayed since we have run out of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines. DOH 11 gave us additional Sinovac vaccines, which are also running out as of this time. We hope our vaccine supply won’t be stopped nor interrupted),” the CHO head said.
He said the city recently received 6,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines, which are being used in several vaccination hubs.
But he assured that the National Covid-19 Task Force promised to send more Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines and some 200,000 Pfizer vaccines that are tentatively scheduled to arrive on June 6 and 7.
He also confirmed that some of the 21 vaccination sites had to suspend operations, not because of the lack of supply of vaccines but the need to take breaks and conduct disinfection.
“We need to disinfect. Kinahanglan nato sila ipahulay. Dili na pwede na whole month nga operation kay dapat naa silay interval at least one week for disinfection apil napud break sa atong staff (We need to take breaks. We can’t operate a vaccination site for the entire month, there needs to be at least one week for disinfection and break of the staff),” Lopez said.
The city is currently catering to those under the A3 priority group or persons with comorbidities aged 18 to 59 years old with existing health conditions such as chronic respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, malignancy, diabetes, obesity, chronic liver disease, neurologic disease, and immunodeficiency state, among others.
Davao City is targeting to inoculate at least 70 percent of its 1.2 million population to achieve "herd immunity."