NCR localities to temporarily stop inoculating seniors due to lack of COVID-19 vaccines

The Pateros City Government may temporarily halt inoculating senior citizens against COVID-19 as it was running out of AstraZeneca vaccines, Mayor Ike Ponce said Saturday.

“Possibly, magre-resume kami pag dumating na uli ‘yung ibang bakuna. Meron tayong ilang Sinovac pa. Bumaba na kami doon sa may mga comorbidity,” Ponce said in Vonne Aquino’s report on “24 Oras Weekend.”

[Possibly, we will resume when the other vaccine doses arrive. We still have Sinovac vaccines. We have started vaccinating those with comorbidities.]

Meanwhile, San Juan was also running out of AstraZeneca vaccines with only 590 doses left. This includes the doses that arrived on Saturday.

“Ilan doon sa 590 ang matitira at ‘yun naman po ay babakuna natin sa senior citizens pagdating ng Lunes. Isa or dalawang araw na lang po ang aabutin natin,” San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora said.

[Some of the 590 that will be left will be used to vaccinate senior citizens on Monday. We have one or two days left.]

“At ako’y nanawagan sa national government na sana nga po ay dumating na ho ‘yung supply natin ng AstraZeneca sapagkat kung hindi ho ‘yan dumating ay mapipilitan tayong itigil muna ang para sa mga senior citizens,” he added.

[I’m calling for the national government for our supply of AstraZeneca vaccines because if they don’t arrive, we will be forced to halt our vaccination program for senior citizens.]

However, Zamora assured that they still have around 1,000 Sinovac vaccines. — Joahna Lei Casilao/DVM, GMA