BACOLOD City – Six healthcare workers here became the first Western Visayans to be vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). They were given the first of two doses of the vaccine made by Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech.
The healthcare workers – five medical doctors and a nurse – were inoculated at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) yesterday, March 5, moments after the city received its share of the vaccines donated by China to the Philippine government.
They were doctors Miguel Sarabia (ophthalmologist and president of the Negros Occidental Medical Society), Hector Gayares (chief executive officer of the Adventist International Healthcare System Philippines), Dolores Rommela Tiples-Ruiz (infectious disease specialist), Radela Yvonne Ramos-Cortes (internal medicine physician), and Carlos Javier Primicias Jr. (pediatrician), and nurse Valerie Villarosa-Sarabia.
“This is historic,” said Mayor Evelio Leonardia. “This is the first (COVID-19) vaccine to arrive in Bacolod.”
He added: “Let it be put on record that like the others that were also clobbered by COVID-19 during these rough times, Bacolod was also one of the first to recover.”
A total of 6,300 vials of Sinovac vaccine arrived at the Bacolod-Silay Airport around 9 a.m. yesterday.
According to Dr. Chris Sorongon, deputy for medical data and analysis of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) here, six doctors were supposed to participate in the vaccine’s first roll-out, but one begged off due to health reasons.
“They have to go through the process from triage to registration, screening, counseling, signing the consent, to the actual vaccination, then to observation,” Sorongon said.
Dr. Michael Tomas Salvador experienced hypertension, Sorongon said.
“This was one of the many ways we can assure Bacolodnons sang safety sang process ofvaccination. Kay sa isa ka step nga indi ka kapasar, indi ka gid mabakunahan,” he added.
An hour after receiving their first dose, the health workers experienced no adverse effects, said Sorongon.
MASSIVE VACCINATION STARTS MARCH 7
Sorongon said out of the 6,300 vaccine doses the city received, 1,600 were allocated to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) and 600 to the Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital (Riverside Medical Center).
Sorongon earlier explained that the two hospitals were prioritized as they are Level 3 hospitals.
Level 3 hospitals were those having training programs for doctors, rehabilitation and dialysis units, among others.
Meanwhile, Dr. Edwin Miraflor, acting head of the City Health Office (CHO), said the remaining 4,100 doses (good for 2,050 persons) will be distributed to other hospitals in the city.
They were eyeing the South Bacolod General Hospital, Bacolod Adventist Medical Center, Metro Bacolod Hospital and the Bacolod Our Lady of Mercy Hospital as next in line.
Miraflor said the recipient health facilities are only given five days – from March 7 to March 11 – to roll-out the first dose of vaccination.
The second dose would be administered a month after the first dose, he added./PN
