SO long as the delivery of the second dose of vaccines is guaranteed, it may be best to use up all available vaccines on hand to vaccinate more people and expedite the vaccination program, Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno said today. “Just as long as we make sure that delivery of the second dose is guaranteed. The national government is in a much better position to know (the scheduled delivery of the vaccines). It’s not a gamble for them. If you are sure that the shipment of the second dose will arrive (on the second week), why wait to distribute (your current supply of) vaccines on the fourth week,” Moreno said during Tuesday noon’s City Hall press briefing. Moreno said this amid a question posed by local media on his reaction to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III’s recommendation to President Rodrigo Duterte to use up all available AstraZeneca vaccines as a first dose in order to vaccinate more health care frontliners. Every local government’s share of the vaccines covers two doses for a given number of vaccine recipients. “Here´s the issue, you have 100 doses good for two doses intended for 50 people. So should we reserve the vaccines for 50 people or use up all 100 doses for 100 people given that there is guaranteed delivery of an additional 100 doses in two weeks? That given (delivery of the vaccines) should be established,” Moreno said. In dramatizing the urgency of fast-tracking the country’s vaccination program, Mayor Moreno likened it to corporate finance where one makes judgment calls or decisions based on one´s risk assessment of the situation. “So it’s either you decide one way or another or you do nothing at all...you can lose or win (but it’s a calculated move based on risk management),” Moreno said. During the same press briefing, City Health Office medical officer Dr. Ted Yu said they were able to vaccinate 5,837 health care frontliners in Cagayan de Oro City out of the 5,893 vaccines they received from the Department of Health from March 5-15 or about 99 percent. “But we expect more people to our list as the primary health care facilities and clinics (now want to be vaccinated),” he said. Acting City Health Officer Dr. Lorraine Nery agreed with Moreno’s point, saying it is also a principle of health economics to maximize the use of available resources. “Otherwise if we don’t, that’s opportunities lost. In public health, we also have to do calculated risk (and what Secretary Duque is proposing) is a calculated risk,” she said. Moreno previously said City Hall should find ways to fast-track the city’s vaccination program, including possibly using all available vaccines in order to vaccinate more health care frontliners and protect as many people in Cagayan de Oro City in the shortest time possible. “That way, the city can secure more vaccines from the national government depending on the availability of the vaccines,” Moreno said. (Stephen Capillas of the City Information Office)