Vaccination of A4 group has yet to start, DOH-6 says

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

The vaccination of A4 priority group (frontline personnel in essential sectors, including uniformed personnel) has yet to officially start despite some local government units administering COVID-19 jabs to the said population lately.

Dr. Bea Camille Fillaro-Natalaray, Non-communicable Diseases Program Head of the Department of Health- Region 6, said the DOH central office has yet to greenlight the vaccination of the A4 group.

Natalaray said in the online series Isyung Bakuna on Monday that A4 inoculation will be done in two phases.

“Our guidelines in vaccination for our A4 is phased. Phase 1 includes our NCR Plus 8 areas, and Phase 2 includes the rest of the regions. Currently, we do not have official communication from the [DOH] central office to start the Phase 2 in other regions,” Natalaray said.

DOH-6’s latest COVID-19 vaccination monitoring report indicated that as of June 27, a total of 370,284 individuals have received the first dose of the vaccine, while 115,930 were fully vaccinated.

Based on priority groups, 108,140 of the inoculated persons belonged to A1 (Workers in Frontline Health Services), 127,948 are part of A2 (All Senior Citizens), and 125,223 are from A3 (Persons with Co-morbidities).

Still to be validated by the DOH-WV CHD are the 19,465 persons under A4 priority group (Frontline personnel in essential sectors, including uniformed personnel) and A5 (Indigent Population) who already received the vaccines.

As to Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas’ recent admission of starting the vaccinations for government workers and economic workers in the city, Natalaray said that they have reiterated to local government units the goal of COVID-19 vaccination in the region.

Under the World Health Organization’s (WHO) vaccine prioritization framework, as adopted by the DOH, economic workers are under the A4 group while other government workers are classified under the B2 group.

“We have emphasized to our [LGUs], we have to return to the goal of our vaccination: first is to reduce morbidity and mortality in our COVID-19 cases, and second is to preserve our healthcare system. That is why we have on the background of scarcity our vaccines, we are prioritizing. Based on our goal, we are prioritizing the preservation of our healthcare system, and next is to reduce morbidities and mortalities. We know that most of our severe cases and COVID-19 deaths are those senior citizens and co-morbidities, that is why the [World Health Organization] has a framework which we have also adopted,” she added.

Iloilo province logged the most inoculations (86,570), followed by Negros Occidental (72,857), Iloilo City (68,603), Bacolod City (46,148), Capiz (36,275), Aklan (30,018), Antique (29,365), and Guimaras (9,448).

For the second doses, Iloilo province also took the lead (28,612), followed by Iloilo City (19,030), Negros Occidental (17,246), Capiz (13,633), Bacolod City (12,417), Aklan (10,919), Antique (10,498), and Guimaras (3,575).

The numbers of vaccinated persons per area include those who had been vaccinated through public vaccination activities by their local government units, and those who had been inoculated in public and private hospitals, whose vaccines are delivered directly by the DOH-WV CHD.