Hundreds of delivery riders from different cities and municipalities on Thursday went for a drive-thru COVID-19 booster shot given for free by the Manila government.
In a report on ABS-CBN, Romeo Santiago, a rider for motorcycle taxi company Angkas, said he came all the way from Antipolo City, which is more than an hour motorcycle ride to the capital city.
He arrived early at the site, around 6 a.m., and queued for his turn to get vaccinated.
“I found out through the president of our group that there’s a vaccination here in Lawton. I quickly got here,” he said.
Most of the riders who availed of the COVID-19 booster vaccine are not residents of Manila, said Dr. Arnold Pangan, Acting City Health Officer of the Manila Health Department (MHD).
Pangan said Manila welcomes every rider to avail of the free COVID-19 booster shots.
“Maybe, of 10 riders, six or seven are not from Manila City. We catered to those from Taguig, Marikina, and other neighboring cities in Metro Manila,” Pangan said.
According to Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso, the “hand-to-mouth-existence” of delivery riders prompted the city government to create a system that will minimize disruption of work yet allow two-wheel workers to avail of the vaccine at their convenience.
The drive-thru system eliminated the trouble for delivery riders to queue up the whole day at a vaccination site and miss a day’s worth of earning, Moreno said.
Domagoso and Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna on Thursday led the mass booster vaccination of the delivery riders, with Lacuna, a doctor, administering shots to some of them.
The activity was held at the Bonifacio Shrine’s Kartilya ng Katipunan side, also supervised by other city hall officials led by Dr. Pangan.
“It’s like they just conducted a delivery. If you look at it, after 2 minutes, the vaccination is done. They can go back to their livelihood,” the mayor said.
On Wednesday night, a similar effort was provided by the city government for haulers of produce in Divisoria.
The Manila Public Information Office (MPIO) reported that a total of 754 COVID-19 booster shots (Sinovac, Astra Zaneca, Pfizer, Moderna) were administered to drivers and workers of food haulers from different provinces who converge nightly at Divisoria for bulk deliveries of various produce.
Moreno said that with the favorable turnout in Divisoria on Wednesday night, the activity will be repeated later Thursday.
Inoculation for booster shots at the Kartilya ng Katipunan for delivery riders will last until 5 p.m. Thursday.
Manila is already looking at the possibility of holding another day of drive-thru vaccination for delivery riders, so that more two-wheel workers can be provided with booster shots, Moreno said.
The mayor nocited the sharp rise in the number of COVID cases in the city, saying from the range of around 70, the cases now rose to 900 in a single day.
“We are glad that our constituents are responding to the city government’s call that the vaccinated people really need a booster. And suddenly more and more people from Manila come here to get vaccinated because they really can’t go to the mall when they are not vaccinated,” Moreno said, in an interview.
“I’m happy that everyone is now following the Manila City Government. And I am very happy with the senior citizens because they are boostering which is very important for everyone,” he added.
Moreno recalled that during the peak of Manila’s vaccination drive, between 40,000 and 50,000 people were able to have their first or second dose a day in the various vaccination centers scattered in the six districts of Manila. Then for the next two months after the peak, vaccinations fell to 2,000 a day.
When there was another surge in infections due to the Omicron variant, Moreno said the City of Manila again experienced a renewed interest in getting vaccinated beginning with 7,000 people last Tuesday and the following day, 16,000 people got their jabs in the evening vaccination in Divisoria.
“Because the Manila Health Department is now scattered in our malls, in our community schools, in our health centers and our vaccination load has swelled by 200%. Then we still have to face the speed of infection, so there will be a challenge in our malls, communities, and schools,” he said.
“So, let’s just be patient. Simultaneously now due to nervousness maybe with Covid-19. We cannot blame our countrymen. Just the same, we will embrace as much as we can. In fact, we did not stop vaccinating,” Moreno said.
Moreno thanked the five local government agencies that have been working hard to ensure that Manila’s vaccination drive goes on uninterrupted.
These are the Manila Health Department, the Manila Disaster Risk Response Management Office (MDRRMO), the City Engineering Office, the Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau (MTPB) and the Bureau of Public Sanitation (BPS).
“We, Vice Mayor Honey and me, call on our people to get vaccinated, get vaccinated, get vaccinated. This will be a pandemic of the unvaccinated. If not vaccinated, most likely, the percentage will be higher,” Moreno warned.
Moreno said the City of Manila has sufficient supplies of anti-Covid 19 drugs such as Remdesivir, Tolicizumab, Baricitinib and Molnupiravir.
“To our compatriots who are looking for medicine, you are welcome to Manila. The important thing is for the person to live, for the person to be saved, whoever he is. In Manila, no one is rich, no one is middle class, no one is poor. All equal. They can avail these medicines. Just let the man live,” Moreno pointed out.
“All they have to do is coordinate with our Manila Health Department or with the numbers we post, they just call and we will deliver and we will extend the drugs against Covid-19. Only a prescription is really needed. Because we could not dispense without the prescription,” Moreno said.
Moreno said Manila’s drive-thru testing will also continue and these are free of charge.
“Our drive thru testing, continuous, it’s free of charge. Our six hospital swab testing, continuous, free. Our antigen testing, it is still continuing. The 10,000 test kits for the antigen arrived based on Vice Mayor Honey’s order. We now have about 15,000 on-hand that people can get. For people there is no cost,” Moreno stressed.
Data coming from the Manila Health Department indicated that from a low of 74 active Covid-19 cases recorded in the city on December 20, 2021, the active cases jumped to 990 as of January 4. The new active cases tallied is 249 with 91,143 total recoveries (25 new) and 1,776 deaths (one new).
Meanwhile, Moreno said they have already recorded 180,000-plus Covid-19 swab tests since testing began in July 2020. He encouraged those who want to be tested to go to Manila as they offer free RT-PCR test.
“Don’t spend life hard anymore. I know you have a lot to spend. If you want to have peace of mind, go to our six hospitals. Gat. Andres Bonifacio Hospital, Tondo Hospital, Justice Jose Abad Santos Hospital, Sampaloc Hospital, Manila Hospital, Sta. Ana Hospital and our drive through Luneta at the grandstand,” Moreno said.
The Aksyon Demokratiko standard bearer also warned the public against fake news or politicians who are against vaccination.
“The only way to solve this is through science. We should rely on the government, from the government’s official statements . . . that we should follow,” Moreno said. Willie Casas, Macon Ramos-Araneta, and Rey E. Requejo