BATANG MAYNILA
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno
Before anything else, I would like to ask you, our dear readers, to please include Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna in your prayers so that she may recover speedily.
As you probably know by now, she contracted COVID last week. It is sad that she got infected while going over and above her duties as vice mayor and presiding officer of the 38-member Manila City Council.
Since she is a doctor, I put her on top of the city government’s health sector and the mass vaccination program. Well, she did more than what was expected.
In fact, she herself does the vaccination from time to time not only in our vaccination sites but also in City Hall and to top it all, she inoculates the bedridden and physically-challenged who cannot make it to the vaccination sites. She goes house-to-house to give the jabs which is probably why she got exposed to the virus.
I hope she gets well soon because I really need her expertise and dedication, having been by my side during the entire year and a half of the pandemic. As a working partner, there is nothing more that a mayor could ask for.
Just like her, equally commendable are our health frontliners, doctors, nurses, volunteers and barangay authorities whose joint efforts resulted in the city succeeding in breaching the one million mark in so far as the number of first dose given.
As of 5 p.m. of August 12 only, the total number of individuals who have been vaccinated in Manila is now at 1,007, 711. Of that number, 667,440 have gotten their full dose while the total number of vaccines deployed was at 1,636, 354.
The city’s eligible population, meaning those aged 18 to 100 years old, is 1,065,149. This is the population comprising those who are allowed to be vaccinated.
Now based on this figure, if we are to achieve the 80 percent population protection, we have clearly surpassed the target.
While Manila’s entire population is about 1.9 million, this figure includes those aged 17 and younger. The target percentage cannot be achieved with the inclusion of 17-years-old and below simply because this age group is not yet being allowed to be vaccinated under the rules set by the Department of Health (DOH).
This accomplishment is due to the ramped up vaccination program we have carried out, beginning with 18 schools and four shopping malls. We later adjusted the vaccination period to 14 hours.
Recently, we launched our drive-thru vaccination which we complemented with the night vaccinations and of late, our 24/7 mass vaccination.
Difficult as it may be both for our vaccinating teams and the residents as well, we in the city government believe that vaccination must be faster than infection.
As of August 12, the Sta. Ana Hospital was already full while our 344-bed Manila COVID-19 Field Hospital (MCFH) in Luneta registered a 94 percent occupancy while the rest of our city-run hospitals had a 45 percent occupancy rate.
I am just so thankful to God that we were able to plan and finish the MCFH way ahead of the entry of the Delta variant into the country and the recent resurgence of COVID cases in so many parts of the country.
I cannot imagine how in the world could the city be able to handle the situation if we did not have the MCFH where the 344 beds are nearly fully occupied.
Based on the data forwarded to us by our hospital directors, 65 percent of the COVID patients under their care are unvaccinated.
This is the very reason why I and Vice Mayor Honey have been actively campaigning for all residents to get vaccinated.
While the vaccines do not promise immunity, they are our only hope to give us the needed protection so that if one gets infected, he will not fall into severe or critical condition.
I am pleased that even if the city government is now implementing a strict scheduling owing to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the vaccinating teams continue to register a high number of vaccines everyday.
As I have vowed, Manila’s mass vaccination will be swift, orderly and efficient. We will administer the vaccines as soon as they come.
This is why we don’t stop vaccinating night or day, rain or shine, everyday including holidays and weekends.
The fact that we have breached the one million mark in so short a time makes me proud of our vaccinating teams and also of Manilans for doing their share to help the country achieve the much-needed herd immunity.
Gaya ng paulit-ulit kong sinasabi, kailangan ko ang tulong ninyong lahat. Walang magmamalasakit sa Maynila kundi tayo ding mga Batang Maynila. Manila, God first!
***
For updates on latest developments in the city of Manila, please visit my Facebook account – ‘Isko Moreno Domagoso.’