Cagayan de Oro mayor says lawmaker 'misinformed' in vaccine rollout

Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno on Sunday said House Deputy Speaker and Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez may have been "misinformed" about the national government's vaccination rollout in the city. 

Previously, Rodriguez asked the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to send additional COVID-19 vaccines to the city given the rising virus cases in Cagayan De Oro. 

A month later, the lawmaker slammed vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. for the "supposed neglect of the national government to the COVID-19 situation in Mindanao" after the government reportedly ignored his plea for additional vaccines. 

But in an interview over Dobol B TV Moreno said they have been receiving additional vaccines from the Department of Health (DOH) amid their situation in the COVID-19 crisis.

"Hindi lang nag-commit. Nagde-deliver ho, kaya lang ho misinformed lang si Cong. Rufus. Kaya nga ho humingi ako ng patawad  kay Secretary (Galvez)," said Moreno when asked if DOH committed to send the more vaccines.

(Not just commit, they have been delivering vaccines. Maybe Cong. Rufus was misinformed, that is why I even apologized to Secretary Galvez.)

Prior to this, Moreno said he talked to Galvez over the phone to inform him that the city is ready to help the government in its COVID-19 inoculation program.

"Noong medyo hirap talaga, naglakas loob ako, tumawag ako kay Sec. Galvez dahil alam ko siya ang vaccine czar. Sabi ko, 'Secretary, kami dito ay ready, willing, committed and determined na tumulong sa vaccination rollout program. Please use us,'" said Moreno.

(When we were having a hard time, I called Sec. Galvez and told him that we are ready, willing, committed and determined for the vaccine program.)

Health officer resigned

On reports about the acting city health officer Lorraine Nery's resignation, Moreno confirmed this, citing personnel reinforcement issues.

"Acting lang siya, the word she used to relinquish her position as acting health officer but she will maintain her post as medical officer," the city mayor said.

"Pursuant to our agreement nagkasundo po kami although of course, mayroon din akong reason. I talked to her,  sabi ko, we need to streamline the department. She has done her job quite well pero medyo ang ano lang ang hirap kasi kailangan especially at this difficult time 'yung reinforcement," he added.

(We had an agreement although of course I have a reason. I talked to her and said we need to streamline the department. She has done her job quite well but reinforcement is hard especially at this difficult time.)

Cases in CDO rising but manageable

In Cagayan De Oro, the mayor said the city's cases were rising but they managed to slow down the transmission.  The OCTA Research Group previously reported that the city has logged a 75% rise in COVID cases.

"Sa CDO, manageable naman. Although mataas, we managed to slow it down. Kahapon nag-report kami 60 plus na lang. The highest was 100 plus two weeks ago," he said.

(In CDO, it is manageable. Although cases are rising, we managed to slow it down. Yesterday we reported 60 plus new cases only. The highest was 100 plus two weeks ago.)

According to Moreno, the average daily attack rate in the city is still high at 13 but it already decreased from 17 which was recorded two weeks ago.

He noted that active cases in the city were at 1,600 while healthcare utility rate stood at 63%. —KG, GMA News