The San Juan City local government started administering on Tuesday, Nov. 23, COVID-19 booster shots to senior citizens and persons with comorbidities a week after launching the booster shot program for its healthcare workers.
San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora said that a total of 1,000 individuals, 800 senior citizens, and 200 immunocompromised, have been given their booster shots at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
“We are fast tracking our vaccine roll out to our citizens so we can all go back to a better normal especially as Christmas approaches. We want them to feel protected especially since we have also started opening up more establishments and easing up quarantine restrictions and people are going out more,” Zamora said.
“We all know the virus is still there, but our goal is to live a better normal, and vaccination is the way so we can fully combat the pandemic," he added.
Metro Manila was placed under the less restrictive Alert Level 2 on Nov. 5 after a sharp decline in COVID-19 cases attributed to the high number of vaccinated individuals in the region. Alert Level 2 means there are no age-based mobility restrictions in the National Capital Region (NCR).
It also allows increased capacity for businesses and activities such as restaurant dine-in, beauty salons and the like, and religious activities, among others.
Qualified San Juaneños who were fully vaccinated for the past six months are now eligible to get the booster shot.
Those who wish to get their booster shot can register with the city’s online vaccination portal and wait for their schedule that will be sent via text message from SanJuanCity.
Zamora said that as of Nov. 21, the city only has 29 active COVID-19 cases. This is the lowest number of cases recorded since March 2020 equivalent to a 97 percent decline from the city’s recorded cases of 1,123 last Sept. 16.