A health official on Wednesday said local government units in Central Visayas should track every senior citizen eligible for inoculation using the Janssen jabs and finish their coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination by end of July.
Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, Department of Health (DOH)-Region 7 chief pathologist, said the challenge for the Metro Cebu LGUs and the Project Balik Buhay (PBB) vaccination sites “is to make sure to hunt down all seniors that are master-listed here and give the Johnson and Johnson vaccine as a single dose.”
“It is strictly for A2… We have to prioritize our senior citizens. Once you are finished vaccinating the senior citizens and you still have extra you can give it to A3 (persons with comorbidities),” Loreche said in a briefing at the Visayan Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC).
With the arrival of 96,450 doses of the Janssen vaccine produced by pharmaceutical firm Johnson and Johnson on July 19, the Central Visayas region has received from the national government a total of 1.3 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
The region also received 610,640 doses of Sinovac, 347,600 doses of AstraZeneca, 241,020 doses of Pfizer and 10,700 doses of Sputnik V vaccines.
“So it is important that we hunt down and convince senior citizens. The reason for this is that we know that with all these variants of concern entering the country especially right now that we have the Delta variant, we need to secure our vulnerable sectors in order to prevent mortality or those who die due to disease. Second, we should relieve our healthcare facilities, hospitals to ensure that we will not be overwhelmed should they become sick,” Loreche said in mixed Cebuano and English.
Loreche, who is also the VVOC spokesperson, urged elderlies who received the Janssen jabs and experienced adverse reactions such as “tingling sensations” in their hands, arms, legs, and feet or increased heart rate or high or low blood pressure after inoculation, to seek medical examination.
Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak said, in a radio interview, inoculation of senior citizens will resume on Thursday, giving them enough time to prepare their vaccination sites for administering the Johnson and Johnson jabs.
He urged city residents to assist their elders in registering for inoculation at six different sites spread all throughout the locality.
“We encourage members of the family to register online their senior citizens, their grandparents, their mom or dad, or their neighbors who do not have the ability to register online,” Tumulak said.
The DOH-7 allocated a total of 14,850 doses of the Janssen vaccine for Cebu City. The other localities in Metro Cebu that received this brand of vaccine are Mandaue City (11,250 doses); Lapu-Lapu City (7,250); Talisay City (3,800); Naga City (3,250); Minglanilla (2,900); Consolacion (1,700) and PBB (1,050).
Source: Philippines News Agency
