Zamboanga City – The Department of Health (DOH) here maintains the “no walk-in” policy for COVID-19 vaccination.
“As per guidelines, we will not accept walk-in vaccinees,” said DOH-9 medical officer Dr. Jess Curay during the Philippine Information Agency’s (PIA) Kapihan na Zamboanga Public Briefing Tuesday morning. He said this is to keep the system orderly and avoid unnecessary hassle and confusion.
Recently, some residents complained of not having been vaccinated yet in spite of registering via the health centers and via www.covax.com, the city’s vaccine registration online portal.
“You don’t have to register multiple times, just wait for the call or notification (from the local government unit),” Dr. Curay added. He assures that the LGUs will immediately inform residents about their schedule as soon as the supplies will allow.
“We have very limited supply but rest assured once you registered you will eventually be vaccinated,” he said.
Out of the total 184,148 people vaccinated as per DOH data, only 1,233 demonstrated adverse effects after immunization (AEFI). This translates to 0.67 AEFI rate in region 9. Usually, vaccinees complain of headaches, fevers, chills, increased blood pressure, body malaise and numbness on the injection side after being vaccinated with Astrazeneca, Coronavac and Sputnik-V. No AEFIs have been reported so far for the Pfizer vaccine, Dr. Curay said.
(News & photo courtesy of PIA-9)