The City Veterinarian’s Office (CVO) is seeking an additional P1.5 million for the mobilization of simultaneous anti-rabies vaccination plan in 182 barangays.
Dr. Gay Pallar, focal person for CVO’s Rabies Control Program, told TIMES yesterday that they are hopeful that the city government will grant the request before the second quarter of 2019 ends.
“There is still no update as for the response of the city government but they will surely grant it because we really need to conduct simultaneous vaccination in all areas,” Pallar said.
The city government has allotted P4 million for the Rabies Control Program for 2019 while the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) provided 700 vials of anti-rabies vaccination that is equivalent to 7,000 doses.
However, the fund and supplies is not enough to meet the goal of CVO on expanding their vaccination coverage.
According to Pallar, city residents are willing to avail of the free vaccination. But the CVO can’t respond to the requests due to lack of vaccination fund.
“For now, we are only prioritizing the areas with high incidence of rabies based on the laboratory examinations we conducted,” Pallar said, citing Talomo District particularly Barangay Catalunan Grande.
Once the city government will grant the additional fund request, the CVO will conduct simultaneous house-to-house vaccination in all barangays.
