ILOILO City – The Department of Health (DOH) in Region 6 has been allocating and distributing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines to healthcare workers accordingly.
This was what the department stressed after the recent appeal of Mayor Jerry Treñas to the regional office to have the urgency in vaccine distribution.
“It took us around three days to finalize the actual number from our six referral hospitals kon sin-o gid ma-signify sa Sinovac and then we distributed accordingly sa aton hospitals nga gusto man makabaton,” said Dr. Mary Jane Juanico, spokesperson of DOH-6.
The first batch of the 16,880 doses of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac vaccines arrived in Western Visayas on March 5.
All these doses have been forwarded to the six referral hospitals in the region as well as infirmaries, Juanico said.
Last week, during the arrival of the second batch of COVID-19 vaccines (CoronaVac and AstraZeneca), Treñas called out the DOH-6.
“Nagapangayo ko nga tani may sense of urgency man ang DOH. Kagapon (March 10) pa na nag–abot ang mga vaccine sang AztraZeneca, ang ila plano buas pa ipanagtag. If we have a sense of urgency, we will understand that every second, every minute counts. Kon mapatugyan ta na ina sa mga hospitals then ma-injectionan na nila ang ila nga mga staff kay ini nga mga staff ang mga una naga- atubang sa mga COVID-positive patients,” said Treñas.
Juanico explained the distribution of the vaccine is being done in phases.
“It is very challenging now because we are at a stage pa lang sang scarcity sang aton nga vaccine. Kon makit-an ang phases, the Philippines is implementing the distribution by phases. With the scarcity of the vaccine, the phasing is based on a critical population naton and the first priority group is really the COVID referral facilities,” Juanico stressed.
Juanico also noted that the 10,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines were intended for 20 hospitals, including the six referral hospitals.
On the other hand, Juanico said the third batch or the 3,400 CoronaVac doses that arrived on March 13 were allotted to four hospitals and two-highly urbanized cities in Western Visayas.
These are the following:
* Western Visayas Medical Center in Mandurriao district – 130
* Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City – 330
* Western Visayas Sanitarium in Santa Barbara, Iloilo – 160
* Don Jose S. Monfort Medical Center Extension Hospital in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo – 50
Some 610 doses were reserved for Iloilo City and 420 doses for Bacolod City.
Meantime, for AstraZeneca, the initial doses are allotted to Aklan (40); Antique (190); Capiz (30); Iloilo (360); Iloilo City (2,450); Negros Occidental (370); and Bacolod City (1,560)./PN
