ILOILO – Some 41,357 Ilonggos have already received their initial doses of the vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Of the figure, 17,173 received the Astrazeneca jabs while 24,184 got the China-made CoronaVac vaccine, data (as of May 23) from the Provincial Health Office (PHO) showed.
Out of the total vaccinees, 9,948 have been inoculated with the second dose – 214 received AstraZeneca and 9,734 got Sinovac.
Those who availed themselves of the first dose include frontliners – 19,401; senior citizens – 13,798; persons with comorbidities – 6,397; uniformed personnel – 597; indigent populations – 503; and other priority groups – 661.
Second doses were administered on frontliners – 8,862; senior citizens – 903; persons with comorbidities – 37; uniformed personnel – 58; indigent populations – five; and other priority groups – 83.
The PHO lauded healthcare workers for facilitating the vaccination across this province.
“Thank you so much for your dedication and hard work. Thank you to all those who have availed themselves of the vaccines,” said Dr. Maria Socorro Colmenares- Quiñon, acting head of the PHO.
More Ilonggos still need to be immunized, Quiñon said, citing PHO’s record of 914,304 residents eligible for vaccination.
She has thus urged senior citizens and persons with comorbidities who have yet to receive the vaccine to coordinate with their Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams.
Iloilo has an ongoing vaccination of priority groups in its 43 local government units using the anti-coronavirus shots allocated by the Department of Health.
The AstraZeneca vaccines earlier procured by the provincial government have yet to arrive.
The vaccines’ expected arrival will be in the second or third quarter of the year.
In early December, the provincial government secured 270,000 doses of AZD1222 Vaccine through a tripartite agreement with AstraZeneca and the national government./PN
