San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora has vowed to be the first to take the AstraZeneca vaccines purchased by the city, in a bid to boost the confidence of residents in the vaccine.
“I will be the first to get the vaccine to increase the level of confidence of our constituents in the vaccine and more of them will trust the vaccine,” Zamora said Thursday.
“I will really be an ambassador for the vaccination process here in San Juan,” he added.
The city conducted a two-day simulation of its vaccination process on January 13 and 14 at the San Juan Gym, in the preparation for its city-wide inoculation of residents against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“We decided to hold the simulation so that early as now, we can see where the problems may be coming from and address them as soon as possible. We want to be ready when the vaccine arrives and as people can see, we are ready anytime,” Zamora said.
The simulation seeks to work out the flow of the vaccination process of the city and address the gaps before the arrival of the vaccine.
The local government said the event also serves as a dry run for healthcare workers, and for other city hall departments involved to get familiarized with their roles and responsibilities during the vaccination process.
“San Juan Gym will be our main vaccination center. We chose this venue because it’s well-ventilated and big enough to accommodate hundreds of San Juaneños who already signed up to get the COVID-19 vaccine. It is also located right in the heart of the city so it’s accessible to our constituents,” said the mayor.
During the simulation, it took about less than 20 minutes for a person to go through all the needed processes to get vaccinated. Afterwards, they will be led to another area for a one-hour observation after vaccination.
San Juan initially ordered 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca through a tripartite agreement, which will then be supplemented by the vaccines coming from the national government.
As of January 14, some 12,177 residents have signed up in the city’s COVID-19 vaccination program registration, the local government said.
Zamora said the city is targeting at least 70 percent of its population to voluntarily get the vaccine to achieve herd immunity.