Duque administers first COVID-19 jab at Lung Center of the Philippines

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III administered the first shot of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to an official of the Lung Center of the Philippines.

Dra. Eileen Aniceto, a pulmonologist and head of the Lung Center of the Philippines’ emergency room, is the first COVID-19 vaccine recipient at the hospital.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Magtiwala po kayo sa inyong gobyerno dahil ang pakay ng gobyerno ay ang interes ng taumbayan higit po sa lahat,” said Duque said during his speech at the symbolic vaccination at the facility.

Meanwhile, the director University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) receives the first official COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines.

Dr. Gerardo Legaspi on Monday was injected with the Chinese vaccine CoronaVac from Sinovac Biotech. The inoculation was done during a ceremonial vaccination at the UP-PGH grounds attended by government officials.

ADVERTISEMENT

Nurse Chareluck Santos administered the vaccine.

The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines in the Philippines, CoronaVac from the Chinese company Sinovac, arrived this Sunday.

At around 4:10 pm, a Chinese military cargo plane landed at Villamor Air Base in Pasay, carrying 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Sinovac.

ADVERTISEMENT

President Rodrigo Duterte himself led the welcome ceremony for the vaccines, along with some government officials.

Aside from Lung Center of the Philippines, the priority hospitals for vaccination are the Philippine General Hospital, Veterans Memorial Medical Center, Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium (Tala Hospital), PNP General Hospital, Pasig City General Hospital, and the V. Luna Medical Center.

COVID-19 vaccine priority list

The government said the COVID-19  is as follows:
  • A1: Frontline workers in health facilities both national and local, private and public, health professionals and non-professionals like students, nursing aides, janitors, barangay health workers, etc.
  • A2: Senior citizens aged 60 years old and above
  • A3: Persons with comorbidities not otherwise included in the preceding categories
  • A4: Frontline personnel in essential sectors including uniformed personnel and those in working sectors identified by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases as essential during an enhanced community quarantine

  • A5: Indigent population not otherwise included in the preceding categories

  • B1: Teachers, social workers

  • B2: Other government workers

  • B3: Other essential workers

  • B4: Socio-demographic groups at significantly higher risk other than senior citizens and indigenous people

  • B5: Overseas Filipino Workers

  • B6: Other remaining workforce

  • C: Rest of the Filipino population not otherwise included in the above groups