Covid-19 | First vaccination outreach offers up to 700 doses daily

The debut vaccination outreach effort was started by the Health Bureau (SSM) today, April 27, at the University of Macau (UM), where inoculation services were offered for the institution’s staff and students across three days.
Tai Wa Hou, coordinator of the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Covid-19 Vaccination Operation, announced the debut at yesterday’s regular Covid-19 media briefing.
The outreach will last from April 27 to 29 — during which time, Sinopharm’s inactivated vaccines will be available on the first two days, and the BioNTech-produced mRNA vaccine will be offered on the last day.
A hyperlink enabling local institutions or associations to make an appointment for a group vaccination session has been embedded onto the official registration system.
As of yesterday, around 1,600 people from the UM had registered for their vaccinations, Tai remarked.
A dedicated team of 30, comprised mainly of medical staff, assistants, registrants and technicians, will be responsible for the outreach, which is expected to offer around 600 to 700 doses daily at the UM, Tai added.
“The members of the team had already completed training and mock practices to gear themselves up for the task,” he confirmed.
During the three days, walk-in services will be offered to staff and students of the UM who have not made an appointment online.
Tai affirmed that it is possible that the SSM will perform a second outreach session for the UM individuals to receive their second doses.
So far, the SSM has commenced discussions with five organizations regarding the arrangement of vaccination outreach. The UM is among them.
“There are many considerations factored in as to whether to roll out a vaccination outreach or not, including the capacity of the vaccination venues offered by the associations, inoculation intent of the members, and their working schedules,” he stressed.
Discussions with other tertiary institutions and large-scale enterprises such as casino operators and Chinese firms based in Macau are underway as well. The updates of the relevant outreach programs will be announced in due course, Tai added.
The plan for the vaccination outreach program was initially mentioned by Tai at a Covid-19 media briefing on March 23.
The object of the scheme is to extend the vaccination service beyond the city’s current 13 designated centers to boost the city’s inoculation rate.