Baguio closes Covid-19 vaccination in big sites, moves to district health centers
Vaccination against COVID-19 will now be at the District Health Centers since the university gymnasiums utilized as big sites will revert back to educational use by students in anticipation for the start of face-to-face classes.
Dr. Rowena Galpo, City Health Services Officer informed Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong that the University of Baguio Gymnasium and the Bishop Carlito Cenzon Sports Center or the Saint Louis University Gymnasium will now be closed for disinfection in preparation for the face-to-face classes.
Even the vaccination site at the basement parking of SM will be closed to accommodate mall goers, Galpo said.
“We will now be focusing our vaccination efforts on the District Health Centers,” Magalong answered.
He said crowding at the vaccination sites will no longer be a problem since the majority of Baguio City’s eligible population were already vaccinated.
But the mayor said vaccination through private pharmacies particularly at the Mercury Drugstore at lower Session Road and Watson’s Pharmacy at SM will continue to accommodate vaccinees.
Per data from the CHSO, as of 14 March 2022, there are now 104.27 percent or 293,003 individuals of the eligible 281,000 adult population in Baguio City vaccinated with the first dose while 99.38 percent or 279,260 have been fully vaccinated. Individuals with booster doses now totaled 99,318.
For the pediatric population aged 12 to 17 years old, 88.30 percent or 35,531 of the eligible population of 40,238 already received their first dose while 84.07 percent or 33,829 were fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, vaccinated individuals with first dose under the pediatric population aged 5 to 11 years old now totaled 20.53 percent or 9,641 of the eligible population of 46,955 while those fully vaccinated are 7.08 percent or 3,323.
“Periodically, we will have vaccination programs in big sites if necessary although our vaccination rate is already high. Surprisingly, a lot of our vaccinees are still on their first dose of vaccination that is why we need to sustain our efforts but now at the District Health Centers,” Magalong said. – Jessa Mardy P. Samidan
