Araneta Coliseum to serve as Quezon City’s mega vaccination site

MANILA, Philippines — The Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City will start operating tomorrow as a mega vaccination facility capable of inoculating up to 1,500 people per day, Mayor Joy Belmonte announced yesterday.

Belmonte said the Araneta Group has agreed to allow the city government to use the facility to speed up the delivery of vaccines to priority groups.

“We estimate that the Big Dome will be capable of vaccinating 1,000 to 1,500 people per day,” she said, adding that measures for indoor settings such as proper filters and fan systems would be installed to ensure the safety of those who plan to get their jabs at the facility.

“The Quezon City government is grateful to the Araneta Group for offering the Big Dome to serve as vaccination center for free. It is a suitable site for a massive and critical government health drive since it offers adequate space and accessibility to both our healthcare workers and the public,” Belmonte added.

Business Permits and Licensing Department head Margie Santos said the Araneta Group also committed to provide their own medical personnel, who will help inoculate those belonging to the A1 to A3 priority groups.

Santos said the Tzu Chi Medical Foundation Philippines, a non-profit charitable organization, would also help by sending volunteer doctors, nurses and staff to the vaccination site.

“We are grateful to our partners in the private sector as they continue to work with us to provide us with spacious venues and to augment our manpower resources,” Belmonte said.

She said she looks forward to the success of this partnership, stressing the need for “an all-of-city approach to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure the speedy recovery of our economy.”

The city government earlier partnered with the Araneta Group for its free swab testing initiative. The company also allowed the free use of its BusPort as an accessible site for the drive-through saliva testing of the Philippine Red Cross.

“We are very pleased to accommodate the Quezon City government’s vaccination campaign at the Smart Araneta Coliseum,” Antonio Mardo, Araneta Group’s senior vice president for operations, said. “This is our contribution to the government’s efforts to control the surge of COVID-19 cases in the city and to improve public health.”

Pfizer rollout

Quezon City also started vaccinating those belonging to priority groups using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines donated through the COVAX facility.

Priority residents of Barangay Paligsahan were vaccinated at the Capitol Medical Center. Those residing in Barangays Kalusugan, BL Crame and Immaculate Concepcion received Pfizer jabs at St. Luke’s Medical Center.

The Quezon City General Hospital is also expected to inoculate priority residents with Pfizer vaccines today.

At least nine other vaccination sites are operating in the city.

The local government has received 11,700 doses of Pfizer and 91,000 doses of AstraZeneca, with another 110,400 doses of Sinovac scheduled for delivery this week.

More than 147,000 people have been vaccinated in Quezon City. Of the number, over 42,000 residents have received their second doses.