The Taguig City government may be able to administer the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine to 670,000 eligible residents in as short as less than a month.
Mayor Lino Cayetano made the presentation at the Taguig City COVID-19 Vaccination Dry Run held on January 27 at the Taguig City Vaccination Hub at Lakeshore Mega Complex in Barangay Lower Bicutan.
He was joined at the ceremony by Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) CODE Team’s Health Sec. Francisco Duque III, vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez, Sec. Vince Dizon, Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano, and Taguig Rep. Lani Cayetano.
The city government has allotted P1 billion for its vaccination program and signed an agreement with AstraZeneca for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines. It is also in talks with Moderna and Bharat Biotech.
In his presentation, Mayor Cayetano said Taguig will have five mega vaccination centers located at Lakeshore Vaccine Center, Elderly Center, Vista Mall parking, Bonifacio Global City’s Maybank Theater or Mind Museum, and Taguig City University. There will also be 35 community vaccination centers.
Taguig will have 716 doctors, nurses, and public health workers who will act as vaccinators and there will be 400 special teams with five members each who will administer the vaccine.
The city has a projected population of 1.02 million and of them, 670,000 who are 16 years old and above are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Based on the city government’s assessment, five teams can vaccinate 375 people per venue. With 40 vaccination venues, a total of 15,000 people can be vaccinated per day. It said it will take 46 days to vaccinate 670,000 residents.
If there are 10 teams that will vaccinate per day, 30,000 people can be administered the vaccine per day and it will take just 23 days to finish the total eligible population.
Each eligible resident has to undergo registration, counselling, and screening before the vaccination.