CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- San Fernando Mayor Edwin Santiago extended his and the local government unit's gratitude to its vaccine rollout partners in the city's bid to ramp up its jabbing program.
“Napakalaki po ng ating pasasalamat sa ating mga partner venues para sa pagbabakuna dahil sa kanilang suporta sa atin. Katulad po ng ating mga partners, ang naisin po natin dito ay upang maging episyente, mabilis, at maayos ang pagbabakuna sa ating mga priority groups nang sa gayon ay matamasa nila ang proteksyon laban sa Covid-19,” he said.
(My huge gratitude goes out to our partner venues for vaccination because of their support. Like our rollout partners, our goal is to provide an efficient, fast, and orderly vaccination process for our priority groups so that they will acquire the protection against Covid-19.)
Since the first rollout of the City of San Fernando Covid-19 vaccination program in March 2021, several steps were taken to make the services better and faster for the qualified vaccine recipients, including the establishment of additional sites and deployment of more personnel in the vaccination, which were accomplished in three months.
Data from the City Health Office (CHO) shows that from having only the Heroes Hall as the lone site for vaccination last March, the City Government now has four active and regular sites to include SM City Pampanga, SM City Telabastagan, Waltermart Mall, and Our Lady of Fatima University.
Some sites now host vaccination activities on select dates and under certain conditions, including the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital, GreenCity Medical Center, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Medical Center, Robinsons Starmills Pampanga, and LausGroup Event Centre.
These sites were established to provide a more accessible vaccination venue to residents under the jurisdictions of the five rural health units.
Santiago said the initiative aims to ramp up the local government’s vaccine rollout and provide Fernandinos added protection against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as early as possible.
Since the beginning of the rollout until Aug. 13, 2021, the City has vaccinated 67,418 individuals with the first dose and 53,465 others with the second dose.
These numbers equate to 27.85 percent and 22.09 percent, respectively, of the target 70 percent population of San Fernando. These include those in priority groups A1 (health workers), A2 (senior citizens), A3 (persons with comorbidities), and A4 (frontline personnel in essential sectors).
“Itong mga vaccination venue at itong mga datos sa bakuna, hindi po natin makakamit ‘yan kung wala ang ating vaccination team na parang walang kapaguran na nagtatrabaho. Masasabi ko pong sila ang tunay na bagong bayani dahil ang kanila pong trabaho ay sumagip ng buhay, magbigay ng proteksyon, at labanan ang COVID-19 pandemic,” Santiago said.
(We would not have accomplished these vaccination venues and data if not for our vaccination team who tirelessly continues to work. I can say that they are the true heroes because their work is to save lives, provide protection, and fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.)
Meanwhile, as of this writing, the City has more than 260 personnel deployed in different vaccination centers.
According to the CHO, this number has been consistently increasing since the rollout as the needs arise.
Manpower inventory shows that the Covid-19 vaccination team in a center is composed not only of vaccinators, but also of supervisors, cold chain managers, personnel for verification and registration, screeners, composite teams, data managers, usherettes, and check-out personnel.
Personnel for administrative matters, logistics and supplies, emergency response, master listing and scheduling, public order and safety, communications, and barangay affairs are also deployed in the team.
The most recent was the deployment of 20 local government unit employees assigned as vaccination schedulers. (JTD with City of San Fernando Information Office)