It will take just 45 minutes at a minimum to complete one’s COVID-19 vaccination.
This according to Dr. Josephine Villafuerte, head of the Davao City Vaccination Program after the city government conducted a simulation exercise on the vaccination process at its designated vaccination site at Mabini Elementary School.
“Normally it will take 45 minutes. Ang pinakamatagal kasi (the longest) is the post-vaccine process. The whole process is easy,” Dr. Villafuerte said.
To start, recipients of the vaccines will enter the premises of the COVID-19 vaccination site. These designated immunization sites are mostly situated in schools.
These persons are directed to the holding area, where they wait for their turn to be registered. At the holding area various IEC (Information Education Communication) videos are shown to educate the audience on COVID-19 and its vaccines.
Inside the vaccination site, they must wear face masks and shields and observe proper social distancing.
After waiting at the holding area, the individual will go to the registration room where city government personnel will check if the person is indeed the recipient of the vaccine and their data is also verified.
From there, the person will proceed to the adjacent counseling room. In this area any questions or hesitation by the person will be answered or resolved by the staff. A lecture about the immunization, its side-effects and benefits is conducted.
The vaccine recipient will then sign his or her consent.
After signing the consent, the person will proceed to the screening room where vital signs are taken.
If the vital signs are normal and assessed as healthy, the recipient will then proceed to the vaccination room where the person receives his or her COVID-19 vaccine shot.
After being immunized the person will then proceed to the post-vaccine room where the vaccinee will rest for 30 minutes to one hour. There are several classrooms allocated for the post-vaccine room, inside the rooms are beds or cots where vaccinees can lie down and rest comfortably.
“We will observe, pag wala naman nararamdaman, normal ang assessment, then the person can go to the post-vaccination room upstairs but if the person has high blood, comorbidities then we have the post-vaccination room at the ground floor near the ambulance,” Dr. Villafuerte said.
If the vaccinee will develop an adverse reaction, a waiting ambulance will take the person to the nearest hospital.
“If a person has a history of allergies they can consult their doctors or health providers,” Dr. Villafuerte said.
All vaccination sites were chosen due to their proximity to a hospital in case of emergency cases, there are ambulances on standby during the immunization.
The vaccination sites will have minimum of three vaccination teams. A single team can handle a minimum of 100 patients per day.
“Initially we will have seven vaccination sites,” Dr. Villafuerte said.
She said during the vaccination program they will be tapping all the doctors of the City Health Office. (RG Alama, Philippine Information Agency | Michael Manguhig, RPN DXKT Davao OIC)