San Juan rolls out Moderna vaccines for residents
MANILA, Philippines — San Juan City has begun administering coronavirus vaccines by American pharmaceutical company Moderna to its residents.
The official rollout for the US-made jabs was held at the FilOil Flying V Centre, the city’s main vaccination site, on Wednesday morning.
"We have 1,800 doses good for 900 people. We will ensure that all of the vaccines will be used today," San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora said.
To recall, the jabs were delivered to the arena on Tuesday night for inoculation on Wednesday morning for residents under the A1, A2, A3, A4 and A5 categories.
"San Juan City rented ultralow freezers, which are on standby at the arena, so the vaccines can be properly stored on-site at -25°C to -15°C temperature," the city said in an advisory sent to reporters.
None of the vaccine beneficiaries have reported side effects so far, city information officer Brian Geli said.
Zamora added that the LGU was looking to establish a third vaccination site soon at the V-Mall at the Greenhills Shopping Center.
The local chief executive said a third site would allow the local government unit to increase its daily vaccination capacity to "around 4,000 up to 5,000 a day" from 2,800 to 3,000 per day initially.
Entire target population by mid-July
San Juan, Metro Manila's smallest city, was also the first to begin vaccinating its residents with the jabs developed by Pfizer-BioNTech.
It has since reached herd immunity in its borders and targets 100% vaccination by mid-July.
"I'm very optimistic that on or before July 15, we'll have finished the remaining vaccinations," Zamora said.
As of Tuesday, 69,586 first doses have been administered in San Juan City, or 81.48% of its target population of 85,400 to protect the population and achieve herd immunity.
2,525,286 Filipinos are now fully vaccinated for COVID-19 around the country, while 7,538,128 have received their first shot as of June 27.
Per the city's latest case tally, 77 active cases remain in San Juan.
"We are seeing and feeling the effects of our vaccination program," Zamora said.
— with a report from Xave Gregorio
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