Residents crowd Parañaque mall for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations

Residents of Parañaque City on Monday rushed to a mall vaccination center in the city to get inoculated with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

According to Maki Pulido’s Tuesday report on “24 Oras,” among those who rushed to the mall was Loida Dagondon, who expressed a preference for the Pfizer vaccine.

Dagondon belonged to the A3 vaccination category - those with comorbidities.

However, Dagondon did not receive the Pfizer jab on Monday as she was a walk-in. She later received a text message from the local government.

“Magbabantay talaga ako kung kailan magkaroon ng available. Kahit private magbabayad ako, okay lang, basta Pfizer,” she said.

(I’m going to wait until it becomes available. Even if it was private, even if I would pay, that’s okay, as long as it’s Pfizer.)

Similarly, other residents went to the vaccination center despite the lack of a schedule, leading to overcrowding.

“Dagsaan, sobra talagang dami. As in puno talaga yung parking lot kahapon dahil ang sabi nila mas may tiwala sila sa Pfizer kaysa ibang vaccine. Kaya dagsaan talaga as in sobrang dami,” she said.

(It was packed. Even the parking lot was full because they said they trusted the Pfizer jab compared to other vaccines. There were a lot of people.)

Meanwhile, only individuals who received text messages were allowed to enter the mall on Tuesday.

“Excited ‘yung mga tao kahapon eh, so ‘yung mga hindi natin na SMS na-text message, dumating sila, eh, ‘yung mga nag walk-in,” Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez said.

(The public was overeager yesterday so even those that did not receive text messages arrived, those that walked in.)

“So nagkaroon tayo ng calibration. ‘Yung lahat ng nag walk-in dito ngayon, hindi na sila inentertain, kundi kinuha na lang ang pangalan nila at makakatanggap sila ng text kung kailan ‘yung vaccination day nila,” he added.

(So we adjusted the process. Anyone who just walks in will not be entertained. Instead, we get their names and they’ll receive a text on their vaccination day.) — Joahna Lei Casilao/DVM, GMA News