Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte said a total of 7,500 health care workers in the city will be administered with the COVID-19 vaccines allocated by the national government during the initial rollout.
Duterte, during the Special Hour program of the Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR) on Monday, February 22, said she received a message about the 15,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines arriving in the city.
“Ang ginabuhat nato karon (What we’re doing now, we are preparing for the 15,000 doses for 7,500 individuals coming from the list of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC). And since 7,500 is more than the number of personnel of SPMC, we are also asking private hospitals, katong ilang mga personnel working in COVID areas or COVID wards na iapil sa listahan until we reach the 7,500,” she said.
The mayor said they have been going through the priority groups to be vaccinated under the list of the national government but the 7,500 will not be enough to cover all those in the priority 1A, which includes COVID-19 dedicated hospitals and COVID-19 referral hospitals.
She also said that the P500,000 persons being included in the master list for vaccination already cover the five priority groups.
Davao City has a total of 12,000 to 13,000 health care workers at SPMC and private hospitals, according to her. This estimated number, however, does not include those working in rehabilitation and dialysis centers and those at the City Health Office.
Duterte added, “With 7500 individuals, naa pay wala nato macomply. Hopefully, iampo nato nga pag-abot sa first batch, sunud-sunod na or tuluy-tuloy na ang abot sa bakuna sa national government because wala silay commitment unsang bakuna muabot kay wala pa pud silay timeline unsay unang muabot na bakuna sa Pilipinas.”
Meanwhile, she said that although some details of the vaccines coming from the national government are still uncertain, the city’s order of COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca is certain. “It is within our control and makita nato ang mga documentation ana ang order nato sa AstraZeneca nga 30,000 doses, good for 15,000 individuals,” the city chief executive said.
The AstraZeneca vaccines are expected to be delivered in tranches starting the third quarter of this year.
She said that they were also recently notified that local government units (LGUs) can also order the Covavax vaccine, which is from an American company with production in India.
The city government of Davao has started preparing the documentation for the purchase of certain doses of Covavax vaccines.
She explained, “Kini atong ginapalit, just in case dili ma fulfill sa national govt ang ilang commitment that there will be bakuna for all because walay anything on paper with regards to sa number of doses na pwede nilang ihatag sa isa ka LGU.”
The city government of Davao conducted four simulation exercises in preparation for the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines.
(City Information Office | Michael Manguhig, RPN DXKT Davao OIC)