The Department of Health is providing an initial 1,600 doses of Sinovac vaccines for health frontliners in 11 Negros Occidental hospitals, to be taken from the excess supply allocated for Bacolod City, Jane Juanico, DOH 6 infectious disease cluster head, said Tuesday, March 9.
The Negros Occidental Provincial Health Office will pick up the vaccines Wednesday morning, March 10, and the ceremonial vaccination of frontliners will be held at the Teresita J. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City Thursday morning, March 11, Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, PHO chief, said.
Juanico said the 1,600 doses will be taken from the 6,300 doses sent to Bacolod City last week since only 4,700 doses are needed for 2,350 Bacolod hospital frontliners who signed up for the China-made vaccines.
The 2,350 frontliners are from seven Bacolod hospitals.
“So we don’t need to pull out Bacolod’s second dose since only 2,350 frontliners in the city are set for vaccination,” she said.
The excess 1,600 doses of Bacolod City will be given to frontliners of all hospitals in Negros Occidental who signified their willingness to be vaccinated, she said.
If the 1,600 doses are not enough the DOH will provide more for Negros Occidental, Juanico said.
Tumimbang said the mass vaccination of frontliners at the TLJPH, Cadiz District Hospital in Cadiz City, Lorenzo D. Zayco District Hospital in Kabankalan City, and Valladolid District Hospital in Valladolid town will be held on Saturday.
Alfredo Benitez, Negros Occidental consultant on economic affairs, who followed up the release of the COVID-19 vaccines with Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, said Tuesday that on top of the Sinovac vaccines, some from AstraZeneca may also be provided by the national government to the province.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said 1,725 frontliners from the 11 hospitals in Negros Occidental have been identified for vaccination, with 1,363 willing to be inoculated with the Sinovac vaccines, and 362 with AstraZeneca.
The frontliners at the Calatrava District Hospital are 61, Cadiz District Hospital – 327, Don Salvador Benedicto Memorial District Hospital – 123, Eleuterio T. Decena Memorial District Hospital – 48, Ignacio L. Arroyo Memorial District Hospital- 82, Merceditas Montilla District Hospital – 33, Lorenzo D. Zayco District Hospital – 97, Valladolid District Hospital – 126, Gov. Valeriano Gatuslao District Hospital – 152, Vicente Gustilo District Hospital – 146 and TLJPH – 530, he said.
He said the PHO will store the vaccines in a cold chain facility, which location he withheld for security reasons, prior to the transfer to the hospitals.
They are also preparing the vaccination cards for the first group of health workers to be vaccinated, Diaz said.
The list of the frontliners to be vaccinated is being updated and that will determine the final number of doses needed by the provincial government hospitals, he said.
“This is your chance to be vaccinated, you are being given priority because you are exposed to patients every day,” Diaz told the frontliners.
The 1,600 doses of Sinovac vaccines will be for hospital health workers only, Juanico said.
Meanwhile, the AstraZeneca vaccines purchased by the Negros Occidental provincial government are expected to arrive in the second quarter of this year, Diaz said.*