Pateros to offer free rides for senior citizens to get them vaccinated
Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce III announced on Wednesday that the municipal government will offer free tricycle rides to senior citizens to encourage them to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Based on the latest data as of July 6, Pateros has already vaccinated 35,015 individuals with the first dose, or 71.46 percent of the municipality’s target population of 49,000. Pateros previously used 47,619 as its target population.

A total of 6,769 individuals are now fully vaccinated in Pateros after getting the second dose of the vaccine, or 13.8 percent of the target population.
But according to Ponce, the turnout among senior citizens is low and the municipal government is still trying to convince senior citizens to get the vaccine.
Pateros will launch Thursday the free tricycle rides to vaccination sites for senior citizens, the mayor told DZMM Teleradyo Wednesday.
Ponce said many of the senior citizens in Pateros are choosy when it comes to the vaccine brand.
“We see that when there are Pfizer vaccines that arrive, there are many senior citizens who get vaccinated. And there are also those who wait and see, perhaps they want to know what will happen to other seniors who got vaccinated,” he said.
The mayor added that many residents are now favoring Sinovac Life Sciences’ CoronaVac vaccine including walk-ins.
Pateros resumed Wednesday the first dose vaccination using the Sputnik V vaccine manufactured by Russia’s Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology.
In the absence of new supply of CoronaVac, the Pateros municipal government will use Sputnik V vaccine originally intended for the second dose.
“There is assurance that the second dose will arrive,” said Ponce.
Pateros’ Villa Monica and Pateros Catholic School Annex Vaccination Centers have resumed operations to administer the first dose but only 350 vaccine doses will be used in each center.