Many were eager to get inoculated during the pilot vaccination of the Russian coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine Sputnik V in Parañaque City on Tuesday, May 4. Most of them were left fuming after long hours of waiting without even getting the jab.
In an interview with DZMM on Wednesday, May 5, Mayor Edwin Olivarez admitted that there were a lot of walk-ins during the pilot vaccination at a mall on Tuesday (May 4) but he explained that there is a procedure that should be followed.
"System po natin po diyan lahat po ng atin pong vina-vaccine naka online register po dapat. Tapos, doon po sa online registry, makakatanggap po sila ng text kung anong araw at anong oras sila pupunta po doon (Under our system, those who intend to get vaccinated should be pre-registered online. They will receive a text message on what day and time they should go to the venue)," Olivarez said.
"Kahapon lang po nangyari po doon marami po yung atin pong mga nag walk-in at kausap ko rin po yung ating city health officer po natin pati po yung ibang karatig po namin na probinsya may nagpunta rin po doon para pumila (What happened yesterday is that there were a lot of walk-ins and I also spoke with our city health officer and found out that even those from nearby provinces also went there)," he added.
Olivarez said the walk-ins who were not vaccinated on Tuesday were assisted in pre-registering online and given queue numbers so they will be prioritized for Wednesday's (May 5) vaccination.
He said walk-ins should be pre-registered online and should be residents of Parañaque City.
Parañaque exceeded its initial target for the pilot vaccination of Sputnik V which was originally 1,500 due to the influx of those who wanted to avail of the third brand to arrive in the country.
The city vaccinated a total of 2,100 individuals on Tuesday, according to the City Health Office.
Olivarez also noted the people's positive response to Sputnik V.
Parañaque City initially received 3,000 doses of Sputnik V together with the cities of Manila, Taguig, Makati, and Muntinlupa. The first batch of Sputnik V vaccines procured by the government from Russia totaling 15,000 doses arrived in the country on May 1.