COVID-19 vaccination begins in Antipolo

Vaccination against COVID-19 began this Thursday in Antipolo City wherein 100 health care workers from public hospitals would have received the vaccine made by the Chinese firm Sinovac.

Dr. Concepcion Garcia Lat, the city health officer, was the first to be vaccinated in the ceremonial rollout. Former Antipolo Mayor Jun Ynares, a doctor, gave him the vaccine.

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According to Ynares, who is now the city’s public information officer, more than 500 health care workers have expressed a desire to be vaccinated with Sinovac’s CoronaVac, but they only received 300 doses so far.

The national government has assured that they will be given a supply of vaccines in the coming weeks.

“Nakakuha naman tayo ng assurance sa national [government] na ito’y madadagdagan pa. Naintindihan natin na ‘di lang Antipolo ang kanilang tinututukan. We’re willing to wait,” said Ynares.

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The government’s COVID-19 vaccination program began on Monday in some hospitals in Metro Manila, followed by a rollout in other parts of the country.

This is after 600,000 doses of CoronaVac donated by the Chinese government arrived on Sunday.

COVID-19 vaccination begins in Antipolo

400 doses of Sinovac have also arrived at the San Pablo City District Hospital in Laguna.

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More than 300 medical frontliners and hospital employees will be vaccinated on Saturday.

According to testing czar Vince Dizon, the number of health care workers enrolling for vaccinations continues to increase.

With the launch of the COVID-19 vaccination program in the provinces, it is hoped that the public will be more encouraged to get vaccinated as well.

According to Dizon, there are hospitals where the demand for the vaccine has increased.

One of them is Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital in Tala, Caloocan to request an additional 1,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine for their employees.

At the Lung Center of the Philippines, more and more health care workers have changed their minds and walked in to get vaccinated.

487,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX Facility arrived in the Philippines this Thursday night.

The government targets to vaccinate all health workers this March, and a total of 70 million this year to have herd immunity against the coronavirus.