A few days after the arrival of Moderna vaccines in the country, San Juan City started on Wednesday the use of the said vaccines in its COVID-19 vaccination program.
The launch was held at the FilOil Flying V Centre, San Juan's main vaccination site, and was attended by San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora.
Zamora said around 1,800 vaccines were delivered Tuesday night at the arena and were stored in ultra low freezers due to the vaccine's required storing temperature of -25°C to -15°C.
He added that the freezers were rented by the local government unit (LGU) in preparation for the inoculation of its residents under the A1 (healthcare workers), A2 (senior citizens), A3 (person with commorbidities), A4 (economic frontliners), and A5 (indigent population) categories on Wednesday.
The LGU said that the City Health Office (CHO) has already prepared and its staff had underwent training for the handling and inoculation of Moderna vaccines last week.
The city government said that as of June 29, 70,269 first doses of anti-COVID vaccine had been administered to its residents or 82.3 percent of its target population of 85,400 to achieve herd immunity.
National Task Force Against COVID-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Vince Dizon has lauded the San Juan city government for its vaccination efforts and efficient rollout of the vaccines and said that the city may be the very first city in the country to achieve herd immunity.
Zamora had previously said that the city aims to reach herd immunity by August.