The Quezon City government assures residents that botched vaccinations, such as an incident caught on video, won’t occur in Quezon City, saying it has put in place several measures to prevent this from happening.

“We guarantee that the said unfortunate incident or anything similar won’t happen in our city”, said Mayor Joy Belmonte. She made the statement after learning that the viral video caused panic among many residents, and some had called the City Health Department to express concern about whether they had really received their vaccine shots. It also created uncertainty among other residents to have themselves vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In the said viral video, a vaccine recipient did not get the proper vaccine after a health worker failed to press the plunger that will push the contents of the syringe.

While there were no reported cases among the more than 880,000 administered shots in Quezon City, Belmonte encourages residents to take videos of their vaccination to ensure that they receive the vaccine properly.

“Mas mainam na kunan natin ng video ang proseso ng pagbabakuna para masigurong naiturok nga sa atin ang bakuna,” she said.

Quezon City Health Department head Dr. Esperanza Arias, for her part, ordered vaccinators to show the syringes to the recipients prior to and after the vaccination.

“To erase any doubt and for their peace of mind, we already instructed our vaccinators to show the syringe to the recipients before and after the inoculation,” Dr. Arias said.

Arias also assures residents that all vaccination sites, even those operated by volunteer health workers, are supervised by senior City Health Department staff, and health workers work in shifts to avoid exhaustion.

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