MORE than 8,000 government and private hospitals in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) will begin to receive their share of the Sinovac vaccine, following the start of the inoculation procedures conducted at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) on Friday, March 5, 2021.
Doctor Ruby Constantino, regional director of the Department of Health – Cordillera Administrative Region (DOH-CAR), confirmed the arrival of the vaccine set for distribution starting March 5.
“The first delivery of the Sinovac vaccine that we received on March 4, consisted of 7,220 vaccines which were supposed to be for the five priority hospitals to be the designated hospitals to be vaccinated namely Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), Benguet General Hospital (BeGH), Bontoc General Hospital (BoGH), Kalinga Provincial Hospital (KPH) and the Luis Hora Memorial Medical Hospital (LHMMH) having a total of 3,608 health care workers and this is what our central office have allocated multiplied by two doses and this is what we will be shared for the entire region which is 7,220,” Constantino said.
The DOH –CAR official added buffer stocks for the vaccine were already requested to the central office.
The region has yet to request for allocation of the newly arrive Astra Zeneca.
“As of this time, we still have no allocation for the use of AstraZeneca vaccine. We still have to wait for the instructions from the national vaccination operations center in Manila. The information given to us is that these AstraZeneca vaccines that arrive were a donation from Covacs and those procured by local government units including the national government,” Constantino said.
BGHMC Chief Doctor Ricardo Runez, who made history in the region after being the first recipient of the vaccine, said his inoculation signals the start of the vaccination process which targets 100 to 150 a day to inoculate around 1,000 recipients.
“We hope that there would be a big change in the impression of the community for those vaccinated like me, primarily because now they will feel safe. Second is that they will now have the confidence to go to the hospitals to seek medical attention not only from the coronavirus but for other medical health needs,” Runez said.
The medical chief called on the public to take advantage of the vaccine considered as the first step to conquer coronavirus and to go back to normal life.
“Now that we health care workers are showing the public that we are now starting with the vaccination, we can now say that everyone needing medical attention and needs with have no fear from going to the hospital,” the medical chief added.
