BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Mayor Evelio Leonardia formally received his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at the Bacolod City Government Center over the weekend.
The National COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center of the Department of Health recently allowed local chief executives (LCEs) in areas deemed “critical and high risk” to be inoculated.
Leonardia initially underwent a pre-vaccination screening. His temperature and blood pressure were checked.
The city mayor was then sent to the vaccination area. Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr., officer-in-charge of the City Health Office, administered his anti-coronavirus shot.
Finally, Leonardia was handed over to the post-vaccination observation area where he sat down for at least 30 minutes. Health workers monitored his vital signs. The mayor said he did not feel any side effects.
The mayor hoped that his inoculation would encourage his still vaccine-hesitant constituents to also get immunized once the vaccines become available to the general public.
Only 28 LCEs in Western Visayas have been included in the government’s COVID-19 vaccination adjusted priority list. These included all governors in the region, one mayor from a highly urbanized city (Leonardia) and 21 other mayors from various towns and cities./PN