ILOILO City – A total of 300 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) at the Iloilo District Jail Male Dormitory of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Barangay Ungka, Jaro district availed themselves of vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) yesterday.
According to jail warden, Jail Superintendent Mary Chanette Espartero, the PDLs were provided with the CoronaVac (Sinovac) vaccines by the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6.
The inmates must also be protected against COVID-19 despite being inside their facility, Espartero said.
Aside from inmates, jail aides were also vaccinated.
“We are very thankful that DOH-6 provided us with the vaccines. We look forward to more inmates getting vaccinated,” Espartero added.
The second dose will be next month.
Espartero said inmates who availed themselves of the free vaccines were senior citizens, persons with disabilities and those with comorbidities.
The vaccination was spearheaded by 10 BJMP nurses led by Jail Chief Inspector Marie Charyl Jamolo, chief of BJMP-6, and Jail Chief Superintendent Arnold Buenacosa, regional director.
The Bureau of Fire Protection in Region 6 also sent personnel and a standby ambulance.
“Our vaccination ended with no untoward incidents,” Espartero said. “We have also prepared medicines for our inmates nga basi may mabatyagan sila nga resulta sang vaccine.”
Meanwhile, Espartero said inmates “nga nakagwa na nga wala pa nakapa-vaccine” may come to their facility and get vaccinated for their second dose./PN
