THE Visayas Covid-19 Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) said Metro Cebu has not hit its target number of vaccination for the past week, September 20 to 26, 2021.
Based on the VVOC data available on Tuesday, September 27, of the 153,750 target doses to be administered as first dose on the past week, only 27,000 doses were actually used as first dose, while of the 153,750 doses targeted to be used as second dose, only 66,914 doses were actually used as second dose.
"We are not hitting our target doses. With the upcoming release of the guidelines for the ages 12 to 17 and the allowance of the general population approach instead of subgroups, we will hopefully expect better vaccination rates," Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, VVOC spokesperson, said on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021.
The "allowance of the general population approach" means that everyone can be vaccinated and one need not wait for his or her subgroup classification to be vaccinated.
She, however, said they have yet to consolidate the actual total number of masterlisted 12 and 17 years old for vaccination.
Moreover, majority or 16,380 of the 46,800 doses of Pfizer vaccines that were delivered in Cebu last week were allocated for Cebu City, Loreche said.
Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City were also allocated 7,020 doses each; Talisay City and Minglanilla with 4,680 doses each, and Consolacion, Cordova, and Liloan with 2,340 doses each.
Moreover, for the Sinovac allocation, a total of 24,000 doses were also allocated for Cebu City; Mandaue City with 5,000 doses; Lapu-Lapu City with 4,000 doses; Talisay City and Cordova with 2,000 doses each, and Liloan with 4,000 doses.
As of September 27, Central Visayas already received a total of 3,670,380 doses of mixed brands of Covid-19 vaccines with Sinovac at 1,962,440 doses as the most number of deliveries in the region.
As to vaccine wastage, Loreche, on Monday, said a total of 221 doses of Covid-19 vaccines regionwide have been wasted as of September 26.
Of these, 78 are logged in Bohol, 19 in Cebu Province, 18 in Negros Oriental, one in Siquijor, 101 in Cebu City, three in Lapu-Lapu City, and one in Mandaue City.
For the 101 doses wasted in Cebu City, 14 are from local government unit vaccine initiatives and 87 from private vaccination initiatives.
"On wastage, I'd like to clarify that there is no intent from our vaccinating teans to have these wastage. In any activities, there maybe factors that are beyond control.like the volume in vial and sometimes the condition of the vials itself," she said.
She said among the most commonly seen factors on these wastage in a multi-dose vial is that the number of vaccinees are lacking because of no show or non-appearance of the scheduled vaccinee.
Moreover, once the conditions of the vaccines, upon the examination by the team, is found questionable in appearances like discoloration, these vaccines will not be used.
"Upon aspiration, there may be insufficient volume, so instead of say, good for two persons, then it becomes good for one only," she said.
She said with the expertise and these experiences of the team, they are upbeat that wastage attributable to aspiration will not happen anymore.
"However, as to vial or vaccine issues like changes in color or presence of precipitates or insufficient volume, then we need to return these to the warehouse for proper coordination and checking with our quality assurance in charge and that of the manufacture," she added. (WBS)