Vaccination against COVID-19 for health workers in the provinces of Batangas, Bulacan and Oriental Mindoro began this Monday.
In Batangas, Department of Health-Calabarzon Director Eduardo Janairo led the ceremonial vaccination at the Batangas Medical Center (BATMC) in Batangas City.
Dr. Ramoncito Magnaye, chief of BATMC, was first vaccinated.
“I feel okay, wala naman akong nararamdaman,” says Magnaye, who has been diabetic for a decade and has hypertension.
The hospital’s 200 medical frontliners, with a total of 1,000 employees, will be the first to be vaccinated with Sinovac vaccines.
Janairo, on the other hand, urged the people of Calabarzon not to ignore the health protocols even though the COVID-19 vaccines are gradually arriving in the region.
In Bulacan, the vaccination of nearly 900 health care workers and workers of the Bulacan Medical Center (BMC) in Malolos City has already begun.
“Asahan n’yo po na sigurado naman lahat tayo mababakunahan. Una-una lang po ‘yan,” said Bulacan Governor Daniel Fernando.
BMC chief Dr. Hjordis Marushka Celis was the first to receive the Sinovac vaccine.
COVID-19 vaccination begins in Batangas, Bulacan, Oriental Mindoro
About 900 doses of Sinovac are intended for the province’s medical frontliners.
More than 800 staff members of BMC, district hospitals, and provincial health offices will be vaccinated until Wednesday.
In Oriental Mindoro, more than 300 health workers will receive the vaccine at Oriental Mindoro Provincial Hospital and private hospitals Ma. Estrella Hospital and MMG Hospital.
Dr. Dante Nuestro, chief of the clinic of Oriental Mindoro Provincial Hospital, and Dr. Cielo Angela Ante, vaccination team leader were first injected with the vaccine.
According to Nuestro, many of the 600 employees of the provincial hospital refused to be vaccinated at first. But after seeing elsewhere that the vaccine had no side effects, they were convinced to be inoculated.
The target is to vaccinate more than 1,000 health workers in Oriental Mindoro within a week.
Oriental Mindoro Governor Humerlito Dolor urged the public not to be afraid to get vaccinated as it is the most effective weapon against the disease.
In March, the government launched the vaccination program against COVID-19, which has infected 594,412 in the Philippines.