The City Health Office (CHO) targets to inoculate 19,000 individuals per day in the coming days with increasing vaccine supplies from the national government.
The City Government hopes to obtain at least 50% vaccination status by December.
City Health Officer Dr. Dulce Miravite said various strategies on how increase vaccination are being looked into in a bid to accomplish this goal and to attain herd immunity the soonest possible time.
Mayor Beng Climaco said ramping up vaccination will boost plans to reopen the city by relaxing some restrictions such as the RT-PCR requirement for fully vaccinated individuals.
Children may also be allowed to visit the parks and engage in other recreational activities if and when the city achieves a vaccination status of 50% or more, the mayor hoped.
“This is our goal and this is our objective by the month of December, the mayor said. However, she stressed that this can only be attained with the full support and cooperation of the public.
Dr. Miravite said additional vaccination teams and bigger vaccination sites are necessary to achieve this. The issue on lack of manpower is now being addressed with the hiring of additional health workers.
The city is also mulling the possibility of conducting mobile vaccination activities in strategic locations during daytime as well as night time.
The national government through NIATF Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez, has increased allocation of vaccines to Zamboanga City.
Among the vaccines made available to the city since the beginning are sinovac, astrazeneca, moderna, sputnik V, Pfizer and Janssen.
As of October 30, 2021, a total of 460,660 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Zamboanga City, of which 275,839 are for first dose while 184,821 are for second dose.
Fully vaccinated individuals now total 27% of the target eligible population of 694,696. First jab recipients total 40%. (Sheila Covarrubias)
(Source: City Government of Zamboanga Facebook page)