Bacolod City’s proposed Vaccination Roadmap is awaiting approval from the Department of Health – Region 6 (DOH-6), Mayor Evelio Leonardia told the COVID-19 Vaccination Council (CoVaC) during their 4th virtual meeting.
According to Leonardia, who sits as the CoVaC chairman, the proposed Vaccination Roadmap – once approved by the DOH regional office – will be the official guidelines of the City Government in its COVID-19 mass vaccination.
The proposed Vaccination Roadmap was prepared by OIC-City Health Officer Dr. Edwin Miraflor and Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) deputy for medical and NGO representative Dr. Chris Sorongon.
It has been personally submitted to DOH-6 on February 11, or prior to the virtual CoVaC meeting, by City Administrator and CoVaC coordinator Em Ang.
Bacolod is among the first LGUs in the country that negotiated to procure their own supply of COVID-19 vaccines. Alongside Davao City, Quezon City, Makati City, and the City of Manila, it is one of the top five cities with the biggest vaccine orders.
Having reserved 650,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, Bacolod is poised to kick off its vaccination program in the third quarter of the year.
“Our vaccines will come possibly in July but we would like to keep the ball rolling. What we want for Bacolod is that when the vaccines come, everything is smooth and in order,” Leonardia said.
Created by virtue of Executive Order No. 83 issued by Leonardia on December 22, 2020, the CoVaC is in charge of planning, supervising, and implementing programs and activities related to Bacolod’s vaccination roadmap.
The roadmap contains systematic and methodical guidelines of profiling and registration of vaccinees.
“The CoVaC shall endorse a system of profiling and/or identifying priority sectors for the COVID-19 vaccination program in accordance with national guidelines,” part of Bacolod’s proposed roadmap read.
“The profiling and registration shall endeavor to create a system of online or digital registration of vaccinees for ease in the assignment of vaccination centers, and monitoring of Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) compatible with the DOH COVID-19 electronic immunization registry (CEIR),” it added.
Also contained in the roadmap are the detailed preparations of the vaccination centers, vaccination storage facilities, vaccination programs, Human Resource for Vaccination, Vaccination logistics and supply, Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI), and Information Education Campaign.
Joining the CoVaC meeting were Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, vice chair; Councilor Renecito Novero, Vaccination Centers Action Team (VCAT) chair; Councilor Lady Gles Pallen, Liga ng mga Barangay president; Councilor Ayesha Joy Villaflor, Sangguniang Kabataan Federation president; Dr. Grace Tan, City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit head; Atty. Maphilindo Polvora, chair of the Bids and Awards Committee; Atty. Joselito Bayatan, City Legal Officer; DSSD head Pacita Tero, Dr. Hector Hayares, private sector representative; and Sorongon.
