Provincial health workers will receive Sinovac jab, too

BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said medical workers in district hospitals either managed by the provincial government of Negros Occidental or local government units will get their share of the China-made Sinovac vaccines.

Diaz said that while he has yet to determine the exact number of doses to be received by the provincial government “we are expecting it soon.”

Dr. Mary Jane Roches Juanico of the Department of Health Regional Office said that at least 1,600 doses of Sinovac vaccines that were not used by the two hospitals in Bacolod City will be given to the province Diaz cited.

Bacolod City received 6,300 doses of Sinovac vaccines from DOH.

The vaccines for the province will be distributed to Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital, in Silay City; Lorenzo Zayco District Hospital in Kabankalan City; Valladolid District Hospital; and the Cadiz City District Hospital.

Diaz said they are now preparing the logistical requirements such as transport carriers, cold storage, and the list of the health workers to be vaccinated.

He added that there are about 1,000 frontliners in the list, including medical doctors who volunteered to be inoculated.

“I think it is more safe for them, and more efficient,” Diaz said.

In the distribution of Sinovac doses, Diaz said the hospitals will receive a prior notice with the vaccines to be delivered by the Provincial Health Office the next day and the vaccination of the frontliners on the same day.

Only the first dose will be delivered with the second dose to be kept by PHO until the next schedule for inoculation, Diaz said.

Earlier, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson has requested at least 5,000 to 6,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines for the province.

He also sought the help of Senator Bong Go for additional doses.