Around 150 elderly dialysis patients at Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center in Tondo, Manila were among the senior citizens vaccinated against COVID-19 on Monday (March 29).
Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso ordered that the vaccination activity be held at the said hospital for the patients' convenience.
The rest of the city's seniors were urged to go to the 12 vaccination stations set up in Manila's six districts.
There are two vaccination sites per district: Brgy. 32 and Brgy. 128 in District I; Brgy. 154 and Brgy. 210 in District II; Brgy. 345 and Brgy. 377 in District III; Brgy. 419 and Brgy. 576 in District IV; Brgy. 704 and Brgy. 803 in District V; and Brgy. 604 and Brgy. 627 in District VI.
They were given COVID-19 vaccines made by British-Swedish biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
Under the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) prioritization framework, senior citizens are listed under Priority Group “A2,” while persons with comorbidities are under Priority Group “A3.”
The Manila city government started vaccinating senior citizens on Sunday (March 28) after prioritizing frontline health workers since it began its vaccine rollout on March 2.
Sixty-year-old "Tatay Edgar," one of the first dialysis patients to be vaccinated, said he did not feel any side effects when he received the jab and that he got vaccinated to protect himself from COVID-19.
"Gusto kong umiwas sa COVID na ito, para naman humaba-haba pa ang buhay ko (I want to avoid getting COVID-19 so that I can live a longer life)," he said.
"Nagpapasalamat kami kay Yorme dahil nabigyan kami ng pagkakataon (We want to thank Mayor Isko because we were given a chance to be vaccinated)," he added.
As of Monday noon, at least 2,557 senior citizens have been vaccinated in Manila.
Meanwhile, the city government has also inoculated around 13,730 frontline workers—including health workers, social workers, contact tracers, jail officers, and members of Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs).