DAVAO CITY – The Davao City COVID-19 Task Force has requested the Department of Health to roll out booster shots to health workers in the city as the surge of cases rose to 10,000 that has also hit the frontliners.
Mayor Sara Duterte said on Monday over Davao City Disaster Radio “there is a severe shortage because of the outbreak in hospitals.” She did not disclose how many frontliners have been downed by the coronavirus.
The move to administer booster shots among health workers all over the Philippines is recommended by the medical community to somehow address the shortage of healthcare workers in the country.
Earlier health frontliners in some hospitals have resigned over the seeming lack of support from the government to address their needs such as economic packages and boosting medical supplies.
The city’s COVID-10 center Southern Philippine Medical Center has reported 1,900 health frontliners as of June.
The Philippine Government is yet to procure booster shots and is currently in talks with four manufacturers. Healthcare frontliners will be prioritized for the booster shots.
Davao City has logged 9,726 active COVID-19 cases as of September 19 with 385 new cases and four new deaths. The city still tops the highest COVID-19 cases in the entire Davao Region.
The Department of Health Davao Region reported a total of 537 variants of concern (VOC) cases including Alpha variant with 139 cases, Beta with 304 cases; and Delta attributed for 94 cases.
