Health frontliners at two Bacolod hospitals will be the first recipients of COVID-19 vaccines that are scheduled to arrive in Bacolod City Sunday, City Administrator Em Ang said today, March 2.
The Department of Health has identified the frontliners at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital and Riverside Medical Center as the first recipients of the Sinovac vaccines that recently arrived from China, Ang, who is also Bacolod Emergency Operations Center executive director, said.
The CLMMRH and RMC were chosen because they have been identified as primary hospitals for COVID-19 patients, she said.
The 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines donated by China arrived in the Philippines on February 28.
The DOH said 16,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccines will be sent to Western Visayas for health frontlines and that Bacolod’s share will arrive Sunday, Ang said.
Another DOH meeting will be held tomorrow where the total number of doses for the two Bacolod hospitals will be known, she said.
Ang said they were instructed to have substitute health frontliners on standby to be vaccinated if there are extra doses after those at the two hospitals are covered.
She said the 650,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines purchased by the Bacolod City government are expected to arrive in July or August.
The 650,000 doses are good for 325,000 Bacolod residents.
The city government aims to vaccinate 425,000 Bacolod residents, and may buy more vaccines to meet the shortfall, she added.
However, that will depend on how many will also be allocated by the national government to the city for free, she added.
The city government wants to vaccinate enough residents to reach herd immunity, Ang said.*