CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY --- The local government here has been preparing for the upcoming vaccination rollout of the second Covid-19 vaccine booster shots here.
Dr. Ted Yu Jr., the medical officer of City Health Office (CHO), in an online briefer on Friday, April 22, reported that the city already tallied 126,812 fully vaccinated individuals who received their first booster shots. This is equivalent to 21.13 percent vaccination coverage from the city's total target population of 599,929.
Yu earlier said they were continuously checking their line list to identify the qualified individuals who should have received their first booster shots four months ago.
"We have checked the list of individuals who received their booster shots so that we can send a message just in case we receive the go signal from the Department of Health Central Office. We have checked the individuals who already have an interval of four months," Yu said.
The medical officer underscored the preparation of the vaccination rollout as the city's Covid-19 vaccination team wanted to be ready once they receive the guidelines and the go signal from the national government.
It can be recalled that the DOH announced its planned rollout this week of the second Covid-19 booster shot for an initial batch of 1.8 million healthcare workers, elderly and immunocompromised patients.
The National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) is still waiting for the review and final recommendations of the Health and Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) before they can start the vaccination rollout.
In a televised public briefing, NVOC chair Myrna Cabotaje confirmed that Pfizer, Moderna, Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik Light and Janssen Covid-19 vaccines have been approved as second booster shots by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
As of April 21, Cagayan de Oro already recorded 549,767 fully vaccinated individuals. This is equivalent to 91.63 percent from the total target population of 599,929.
Meanwhile, there were 27,668 individuals who just received their first dose of the vaccine.
When it comes to the pediatric vaccination (aged five to 11), the city already vaccinated 18,281 children, of which 11,506 were fully vaccinated.