More Sinovac vaccines arrived Tuesday, June 8, for Bacolod City and Negros Occidental that had 20 COVID-19 deaths in the first week of June and where coronavirus cases continue to surge.
Bacolod City had 10 new COVID-19 deaths from June 1 to 7, and cases continue to surge, City Administrator Em Ang said.
Negros Occidental also had 10 new COVID-19 deaths from June 1 to 7 with three in Victorias City, two each in Isabela and Talisay City, and one each in Binalbagan, San Carlos City and Sipalay City, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
There were 16,800 Sinovac vaccines that arrived for Negros Occidental and 7,000 for Bacolod City on Tuesday.
Additional vaccines are expected to arrive this month, with the country expected to receive more in June, Zeaphard Caelian, Provincial Incident Management Team head, said.
National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. has endorsed the request of the League of Cities of the Philippines to include other high-risk areas in the priority recipients of COVID vaccines, Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said.
The Department of Health tagged Bacolod City Monday as a high risk area for COVID-19.
“We have favorably endorsed your request to the National Vaccine Operations Center for their evaluation and appropriate action,” Galvez said in a June 2 letter to Leonardia, LCP national president.
The LCP previously appealed for the inclusion of more areas as priority recipients of COVID vaccines given the surge in cases in localities outside NCR Plus 8, which is composed of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Rizal, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.
In the letter, Galvez said: “We understand your alarm in the recent upsurge of cases in various parts of our country, including those outside the NCR+8. Towards this end, we believe that vaccinating more segments of our population is needed to stem out further cases.”
Galvez assured Leonardia that enough doses will be given to inoculate 100 percent of Bacolod’s adult population.*