Bicol to get 11,700 Sinovac vax doses
By Mar S. Arguelles
The Department of Health (DOH) in Bicol is set to receive on Thursday, Mar. 4, the 11,700 doses of Sinovac vaccines as part of the region’s initial allocation from the 600,000 doses that arrived recently in the country from the People’s Republic of China.
The vaccines are expected to arrive at the Legazpi City Airport at 10:30 AM. After a brief press conference, the vaccines will be transported from the DOH regional office to storage facilities in Albay and Camarines Sur.
Dr. Rita Ang Bon, DOH Covid-19 vaccine program coordinator, in a news briefing said that the region is expected to receive the Sinovac vaccine single-dose vial good for 5,850 government health workers.
Bon said vaccines would be allotted to at least four government hospitals that serve as Covid-19 treatment and isolation centers in Bicol.
The priority hospitals for the vaccination roll-out include: the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital in Legazpi City with 2,292 hospital employees to be vaccinated; Bicol Medical Center in Naga City with 2,132 employees; Bicol Region General Hospital and Geriatric Medical Center in Cabusao, Camarines Sur with 767 employees; and the Naga Imaging Center Cooperative (NICC) Doctors Hospital with 651 employees.
According to the latest DOH update, aside from the BMC and NICC in Naga City, Mother Seton Hospital, St. John Hospital and Bicol Access are now included in the vaccination roll-out.
The ceremonial vaccination ceremony in the Bicol region is slated on Friday, March 5.
Sec. Carlito Galvez, Jr., the country’s vaccine czar is reportedly coming to Bicol for the occasion.
Bon said the remaining vaccines (5,850) would be rolled out to other government-run hospitals.
When asked how the vaccines would arrive and where they would be stored, Bon said they don’t know yet the exact date next week of the arrival of the vaccines and by what means they would be delivered.
Bon said “we are just waiting for the advice from central office as to what mode of transportation and the exact date of arrival.”
She said upon the arrival of the vaccines, they would immediately be inventoried and stored at the DOH vaccine storage facility here.
As soon as the vaccines are delivered to the intended hospital, soctors would start the vaccination procedures immediately, Bon said.
Noemi Bron, DOH public affairs chief, said that the recent survey conducted by the agency showed that at least 60 percent of the government health workers (doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacist, and other health workers) are willing to be vaccinated.