Pasig lauded as model in Covid-19 campaign

The National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) cited Pasig City as a model city for the entire country with its plans and programs to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), according to a report by Philippine News Agency.

During the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (C.O.D.E.) Team visit in Pasig City Tuesday to discuss the Covid-19 vaccination plan, NTF deputy implementer Vivencio Dizon recognized the Pasig local government unit’s (LGUs) responses to the infectious disease.

“We can see that Pasig City is a model for the entire Philippines because of the leadership of Mayor Vico Sotto. With the support from the national government, we were able to slow down Covid-19 cases. Even during the Christmas and New Year holidays, we didn’t see a significant surge in the number of cases,” Dizon said in Filipino.

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As of Jan. 24, confirmed Covid-19 cases in Pasig City reached 10,231. Of the number, 9,621 have recovered, 195 are active cases, and 415 died from coronavirus.

The city’s health officer, Dr. Joseph Panaligan, presented the LGU’s concrete plan for its vaccination program.

Panaligan said the city government identified public schools as vaccination sites for their constituents.

“We asked the permission from the regional office of DepEd (Department of Education) to use public schools to carry out the vaccination program faster and more systematic,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.

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He added the city government has clustered the barangays into 16 vaccination sites. Big hospitals in Pasig and the Tanghalang Pasigueño will also accommodate individuals for their Covid-19 vaccines.

Each site will be manned by 74 personnel composed of medical workers and support staff.

For the first phase of the vaccination program, Panaligan said they will focus on masterlisting, registration, validation, screening, and profiling of their constituents, while also preparing the logistics and venues for the immunization program.

He added the Pasig LGU has identified 195,912 individuals composed of health workers, senior citizens, indigents, and uniformed personnel as priority groups to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

The city government targets to inoculate 5,568 individuals in all of its 16 vaccination sites daily, Panaligan said.

Meanwhile, Panaligan said the city government has entered into a lease agreement for 16 vaccine refrigerators as its cold chain facility, which can provide -40° Celsius temperature.

“What we’ve gone through before is more difficult than the vaccination program because we did not know what to do then. There’s no system available yet,” Dizon said in Filipino.

Dizon hopes the Philippines will have the same trend like in Israel wherein cases dropped by 60 percent and lesser positive cases needed to be hospitalized after starting the immunization for Covid-19.