Bicol receives more vax

By Mar S. Arguelles

Some 10,000 vials of China-made Sinovac and 2,400 vials of donated Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines arrived on Tuesday morning, July 13 at the Legazpi City Domestic Airport, the Department of Health (DOH) in Bicol said.

The vaccines packed in nine boxes, arrived on board a Philippine Air Lines (PAL) commercial flight from Manila around 9:00 AM.

Noemi Bron, DOH health and promotion department chief, said the deliveries of the Sputnik V have been allocated by the national government to the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH) and Legazpi City for “pilot” rollout.

The Sinovac vaccines have been allocated as additional second doses for the provinces of Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Sorsogon, and the island provinces of Masbate and Catanduanes.

The vaccines were brought to the DOH Bicol Cold Storage facility for inventory.

The DOH vaccine rollout as of July 8 this year indicate that Bicol has received a total of 294,380 vials of vaccines, 274,821 or 93 percent of which were administered to health workers, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities.

On Friday, July 9, Bicol received some 36,800 single-dose vials of China-made Sinovac to inoculate more first and second dose medical frontline workers, senior citizens, and persons with comorbidities, the Department of Health (DOH) here said.

These vaccines were allocated to: Albay – 10,000 vials; Legazpi City – 5,000; Naga City -- 5,000 vials; and the rest (16,800 vials) would be distributed to Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Sorsogon, Masbate and Catanduanes.