University of St. La Salle president and chancellor, Brother Joaquin Severino Martinez, commended the “dynamic” vaccination initiatives of the Bacolod City government, a press release from the Bacolod City Public Information Office.
“[On] behalf of the university, La Sallian community, I would like to recognize the dynamic efforts of our City Hall administration, led by Mayor Bing Leonardia, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, and the dynamic team of councilors heading Bacolod City,” Martinez said during a virtual forum late last week.
The virtual meeting was led by Mayor Evelio Leonardia, who chairs both the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and COVID-19 Vaccination Council (CoVaC), and City Administrator Em Legaspi-Ang, concurrent EOC executive director and CoVaC coordinator.
Over 1,000 students of USLS College of Nursing attended the online event together with their faculty members and immediate family members.
“[The vaccination] teams have been doing round-the-clock, fantastic work of assisting all of us in the city to become vaccinated,” Martinez said.
He said it is “truly an outstanding and challenging effort that has been accomplished tremendously” by the City Hall administration.
The online forum was an offshoot of an earlier Zoom meeting attended by Leonardia, Ang, Dr. Chris Sorongon, EOC deputy medical; Dr. Edwin Miraflor, Jr., officer-in-charge of the City Health Office, and deans and heads of nursing schools in Bacolod.
It was decided in the same meeting that students of local nursing schools, who will soon serve as the city’s healthcare frontliners, will be prioritized in COVID-19 vaccination program of Bacolod.
Their families and the schools’ faculty members will be in the priority list, too.
“Truly, what we had promised to get help for our teachers and staff is now happening and being responded to by the team that I just had thanked,” Martinez said.
He applealed to them that in order to avoid community transmission, they must “continue to educate and help others, follow the health protocols, follow the City Health [Office] guidelines with regards the prevention of COVID-19.”
Leonardia, in his message, centered on the city government’s initiatives geared towards achieving herd immunity in Bacolod.
Sorongon and Miraflor gave a briefer on the preparations for the inoculation of nursing students, faculty, and members of their immediate families on Sept. 17 at the Ayala Malls Capitol Central.*