Moreno: We must vaccinate faster than mutation of virus

“IF di nato paspasan ang vaccination rollout, maunahan ta sa virus.”

Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno issued this grim warning as he called anew on City Hall’s health cluster to mobilize every available City Hall personnel and every private and public hospital in the city to beef up the city’s vaccination campaign.

“So we can vaccinate more people even on weekends,” Moreno said during today’s City Hall press briefing.

Moreno’s call came in response to the ongoing spike in Covid-19 cases in Metro Manila and the National Capital Region which recorded the bulk of more than 8,000 cases last Monday. More than 7,000 Covid-19 cases were recorded in the country in the past four days which the Department of Health (DOH) attributed to the new Covid-19 variants that entered the country.

“We are not racing against each other (local governments) but against Covid-19. Kinahanglan mauna ang bakuna moabot sa katawhan kay sa Covid-19,” Moreno said as he challenged both the City Health Office (CHO) and the city-owned JR Borja General Hospital to a competition on who can vaccinate more health care frontliners.

At the same time, Moreno also voiced dismay to reports that some officials in the country are using their influence so they can be prioritized for vaccination ahead of the health care frontliners and other priority groups. While saying he understood their motives, Moreno said these officials should wait like the rest for their turn to be vaccinated.

“(Acting City Health Officer) Dr. Nery, let’s not allow this to happen at City Hall. Luoy intawon ang katawhan. We should follow the DOH priority vaccination list and no one in City Hall should be favored ahead of others. I am sensitive about that. To those city officials (trying to get ahead of the list), just wait for your turn,” Moreno said.

Based on City Health Office data, City Hall had so far vaccinated 7,000 out of a targeted 10,500 health care frontliners from March 8 to 22. City Hall is targeting to vaccinate more than 112,000 seniors, with the general population placed at more than half a million.

“If we need to add more people, more groups then we will do it. Let’s adopt a very high sense of urgency, we should be fixated on fast-tracking the vaccination program. Vaccination is protection,” Moreno said. (Stephen Capillas of the City Information Office)