Vice President Leni Robredo’s COVID-19 vaccination initiative in Iriga City, Camarines Sur has administered vaccine doses to some 3,676 senior citizens in the city as she pushes to speed up the government’s vaccination program because of the more transmissible Delta variant.

This is the third collaboration of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) with a local government unit. The first one was in Manila with Mayor Isko Moreno and the second one was in her hometown of Naga City.

Robredo personally visited a cluster site of the IrigaVax Express, an offshoot of her Vaccine Express initiative, during the first day of vaccination on Friday, August 6.

The three cluster sites in Iriga City are the San Isidro Gym Elementary School, Iriga Gym, and Sagrada Covered Courts.

“Lalo na dahil may Delta variant, dapat bilisan talaga natin ‘yong deployment. Kasi while ‘yong vaccines hindi naman assurance na hindi ka na mai-infect ng virus, at least nape-prevent niya ‘yong severity, saka nape-prevent niya ‘yong hospitalization (Especially because there is a Delta variant, we need to hasten our deployment. Because while the vaccines are not an assurance that you will not get infected by the virus, at least it prevents the severity and it also prevents hospitalization),” she said.

The faster the deployment of the vaccines, the better for everyone, the vice president added.

READ: Robredo calls anew for faster vaccination vs COVID-19

Early studies showed that the Delta variant has 1,260 times more viral load than the original Alpha variant. That makes it highly transmissible and contagious, infecting people in seconds. The Delta variant, first detected in India, is believed to be the driver of surges in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.

In a Facebook post, Robredo said the IrigaVax Express aims to vaccinate 5,000 seniors with Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Janssen vaccine. If successful, 85 percent of senior adults in Iriga City will be fully vaccinated already.

The vice president shared that the city already inoculated 85 percent of its A3 category or people with comorbidities while it will start administering the doses to the A4 category on Monday, August 9.

The target recipients of the vaccines should go to the site nearest their barangay, Robredo said.

She expressed gratitude to some 87 doctors and 108 nurses who volunteered for the initiative, as well as to Mayor Madel Alfelor and the entire local government unit of Iriga “for going all out for this.”

The IrigaVax Express is part of the OVP’s “continuous efforts to provide logistics support for local government units, to help in the faster and more efficient distribution of vaccines among their residents,” a statement from Robredo’s office said.

After Iriga, the OVP plans to bring the initiative to Quezon City.

READ: Robredo’s ‘Vaccine Express’ to roll in Quezon City

The IrigaVax Express was made possible not only because of the OVP’s cooperation with LGU Iriga, but also because of Rotary Club of Iriga, Kabalikat CiviCom, Angena Trading, Philippine Red Cross - Iriga, Camarines Sur Medical Society, Philippine Academy of Family Physicians - Iriga, Philippine Nurses Association - Iriga, Our Lady of Mediatrix Hospital, and Millennials PH - Iriga.