Taguig readies facilities for vaccination

Taguig Mayor Lino Cayetano announced that the city is already setting up four mega-quarantine vaccination centers and 40 community centers for the rollout of the government's coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination program, according to a report by Philippine News Agency.

In his weekly video report posted on the city's official Facebook page, Cayetano said one of these vaccination centers includes the Lakeshore complex in Barangay Lower Bicutan.

He said a dry-run will be scheduled in these areas to be witnessed by representatives of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and other agencies.

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He added that 40 schools that would serve as community vaccination centers were also being readied to ensure that all logistical requirements were in place upon the vaccines’ arrival.

As for vaccine storage, Cayetano said the local government has inked an agreement with world-class Orca Cold Chain Solutions Inc. for the use of its 6,500-square-meter facility in Barangay Bagumbayan.

“Sisiguraduhin nila ang integridad ng vaccine at mula doon hanggang sa mga vaccination centers, sila ang magsu-supervise para sa wastong temperatura ng vaccine (They will make sure of the integrity of the vaccine and from the vaccination centers, they will supervise and ensure that the vaccines are stored using the proper temperature),” he said.

The city government has secured vaccine doses from AstraZeneca, but it is also in talks with three other vaccine suppliers.

Cayetano said the vaccines are aside from the ones to be supplied by the national government, which would be allocated for the medical front-liners.

The second batch of vaccines would be for other front-liners such as enforcers.

The third batch of vaccines is for the vulnerable sectors including the elderly, while the rest is for the remaining population, Cayetano said.

“To residents, stakeholders, visitors in the city of Taguig, ginagawa ho ang lahat ng pamahalaang lungsod para patuloy na maging handa sa pandemyang ito. Sa awa ng Diyos (the city government is doing everything to ensure that we are ready for this pandemic. Through God's mercy), we hope this is the beginning of the end (of the pandemic),” he said.

Taguig still has one of the lowest active Covid-19 cases in Metro Manila, with only five cases per 100,000 population.

This is lower than the 24 active cases per 100,000 population recorded by the National Capital Region.

As of January 21, of the 11,095 Covid-19 cases in the city, 10,869 have recovered, for a recovery rate of 97.96 percent, higher than Metro Manila’s 95.04-percent recovery rate.

The city has a case fatality rate of 1.6 percent with its 178 Covid-19 deaths, less than Metro Manila’s 2.92-percent case fatality rate. The case doubling time—or the time required for Covid-19 cases to double—in Taguig as of January 21 is 23 days.

The city government has done 108,777 RT-PCR free tests.