The Taguig City local government opened on Wednesday its ninth vaccination site as it sticks to its target to finish fully vaccinating eligible individuals by December 2021.
In partnership with Megaworld Corporation, the mall’s cinemas—Cinema 1 and Cinema 5—will serve as among the city’s main vaccination hubs.
This, as the Department of Health (DOH) logged 4,700 additional cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 1,159,071.There were also 6,986 recoveries and 136 deaths. The country now has 1,089,613 recoveries and 19,507 deaths.
The addition of the Venice Grand Canal Mall Vaccination Hub will further expedite the city’s ongoing vaccination rollout with two vaccination teams per cinema conducting inoculations to an estimated of 400 persons capacity daily.
“We have a good number of vaccine supplies as of now. We were told by the national government that will be more in June. With that, the job of the local government is to make sure that vaccination is safe, fast and accessible. The city of Taguig wants to focus on those three things. So, we will continue to aggressively plan our vaccination rollout,” said Mayor Lino Cayetano.
Safety is also ensured as air exchange is monitored in both cinemas in accordance with Department of Labor and Employment’s Department Order 224, Series of 2021.
Taguig had earlier established mega vaccination hubs at Vista Mall, SM Aura, and another in BGC High Street to ensure that all vaccinees may feel comfortable and safe during vaccination. The city is looking to partner with more malls and other spacious establishments to provide safe and spacious places where citizens may get vaccinated swiftly.
Taguig was also recently commended for its extensive preparation with attention to detail of its Covid-19 vaccine rollout by World Health Organization (WHO) Head in the Philippines, Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, during a symbolic vaccination using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on May 13 at the Lakeshore Mega Vaccination Hub.
“Mr. Mayor, sincere thanks for your leadership. We really appreciate this initiative on your part. Installing a training center and having an excellent process, we encourage other local government units to possibly learn from your experience and duplicate such processes that already have been established. It is commendable, and we really salute your leadership and initiative,” said Dr Abeyasinghe.
By December this year, Cayetano said the city is targeting to vaccinate 5,600 individuals per day starting June 1 in the city’s “short-term” projection. This week, the city expects to hit 65,000 of the 650,000 individuals eligible for vaccination.
Taguig City reiterates that only those with confirmed vaccination schedule will be accommodated in our vaccination sites.
Strictly no walk-ins. Citizens can schedule their own vaccination appointment online or through the Taguig TRACE self-service kiosks located in the barangays.
To date, the city government of Taguig has established nine operational vaccination hubs throughout the city with more sites under way.
A total of 54,287 individuals belonging to the A1 (medical frontliners), A2 (senior citizens), and A3 (persons with comorbidities) categories have been vaccinated as of May 18, 2021.