The Tagbilaran City government inoculated 220 children against COVID-19 on Tuesday, the first day of its mass rollout of the vaccine for those aged five to 11.
City Health Office (CHO) spokesperson Robin Culpa said they conducted the inaugural rollout of the pediatric Pfizer vaccines at the Tagbilaran City College which was decked with decorations for children from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Ang location pud nato diri sa City College okay kaayo kay mura man siya og amusement theme park, naay cartoon characters and music pud para sa bata as a way of diverting their attention while magpabakuna,” said Culpa.
Culpa added that nine of those inoculated were children with comorbidities.
However, the figure for the first day fell short of the CHO’s target of 500 vaccine recipients on the first day.
Culpa said parents may have not been able to accompany their children due to their work considering that it was done on a weekday.
He explained that parents may be excused from work if they are able to present their child’s vaccination card to their employers.
“Ang challenge nato ana is alanganin ang atong mga ginikanan tungod pud ang uban ginikanan nanarbaho sila, wala pa pud siguro sila kahibalo na pwede ra na dili sila e-tag as absent sa ilang pagpanarbaho just as long as ilang ipakita ang vaccination card sa ilang employers,” said Culpa.
According to Culpa, the vaccine operations went smoothly except for some instances in which parents were not able to bring copies of the needed documents for the vaccination.
He expressed confidence that the number of vaccine recipients will increase in the next day.
The Tagbilaran City government recently received 4,000 doses of Pfizer’s pediatric formulation of the COVID-19 vaccine, and more are expected to arrive in the next week.
Meanwhile, the CHO deferred the opening of two other vaccination sites for the age group, the Bool Elementary School and Booy Covered Court due to the low turnout of vaccine recipients.
“For the meantime, sa City College sa lang ang open karon pero eventually, the next coming days probably next week maka open na ta sa uban,” said Culpa.
On Monday, Tagbilaran City Mayor Baba Yap led the launching of the vaccination for the age group at the City Hall in which 29 pre-selected children received the jab. (R. Tutas)