ILOILO City – Instead of fear, anxiety and despair, hope could now be gleaned in the faces of healthcare workers, according to Secretary Vince Dizon, deputy chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 and the country’s testing czar.
The arrival of vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) “gives us so much joy,” said Dizon who witnessed yesterday the vaccination of medical frontliners of St. Paul’s Hospital Iloilo and Western Visayas Sanitarium in Santa Barbara, Iloilo.
“These vaccines are for you. We honor you,” he told them. “We thank you from bottom of our hearts for all your hard work. With the vaccines, mabibigyan na nang protection ang ating healthcare workers.”
Dizon reiterated President Rodrigo Duterte’s commitment to prioritize healthcare workers for COVID-19 vaccination.
“Please be our disciples…our ambassadors for vaccination,” he said. “Convince the rest of our countrymen to also have themselves vaccinated. This is the only way (to defeat COVID-19),” he said.
March 16 next week marks the first anniversary of the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown.
“It has been a very difficult year, and it has been especially difficult for our healthcare workers, especially those treating and taking care of our COVID-19 patients,” Dizon said.
Citing a top infectious disease specialist, Dizon said, “the best vaccine is the one that is already in your arm, ‘yung ang pinaka-epektibong vaccine kasi binibigyan ka immediately pagkasaksak sa ‘yo 100 percent protection against severe infection and death.”
Dizon also lauded Mayor Jerry Treňas and the city government for initiatives against COVID-19.
“The leadership of the local chief executive is the most critical factor in handling the pandemic because without it, everything else will falter…. the people of Iloilo City are in very good hands,” said Dizon./PN
