CITY AIMS TO VACCINATE AT LEAST 60 PERCENT OF TARGET POPULATION BY END OF 2021

May 14, 2021 – Barring unsteady vaccine supply and other hitches, Baguio City can immunize at least 60 percent of its target population for inoculation against the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by the end of the year.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong said rough projections showed the city can achieve its target of immunizing 60 percent or more of its target population comprising of 190,000 individuals before the end of 2021 but this depends on the supply of vaccines and other factors.

The mayor however is optimistic that the city can complete its vaccine requirement by August through its own procurement program, pledges from private groups and allocation from the national government.

City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said achieving the target is “doable” based on their calculations done using the present vaccination program set-up.

For the 190,000 individuals, a total of 380,000 doses would be required for dispensation and with 25,000 already administered as of May 10, computations done were based on the remaining figure of 355,000.

Galpo said the city has been doing vaccination operations four times a week and based on the target figure of 355,000 and the vaccination days before the end of the year at 124 days, the city would have to do a total of 3,000 vaccinations per day.

The city currently has four vaccination sites with six teams per site thus if computed, each team would need to conduct 120 vaccination per day four times a week to achieve the target.

“If based solely on this calculation, then we can say it is doable but as the mayor said, there are factors to consider but still, we will do our best to achieve our target,” Galpo said. – Aileen P. Refuerzo