BY AJ PATRICK GA-AN
SAN JOSE, Antique – The Antique Provincial Health Office (APHO) has kicked off the vaccination of senior citizens against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at the EBJ Gymnasium here yesterday.
It targeted to administer between 50 and 100 doses of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac to senior citizens from this capital town.
The rest of the senior citizens in the province will be vaccinated by municipal health offices (MHOs) in their respective vaccination sites in the coming days.
According to Dr. Leoncio Abiera Jr., APHO chief, both indigent and non-indigent senior citizens could avail themselves of the vaccine.
The province has sufficient CoronaVac vaccines that could hopefully cover all senior citizens in APHO’s master list, he added.
APHO advises senior citizens to coordinate with their respective barangay health stations so that the vaccines would be channelled to their respective MHOs.
Senior citizens who wanted to be vaccinated need to have controlled comorbidities and they are not sick prior to the vaccination date.
If they have comorbidities, their physician can issue a clearance that they are fit for vaccination, said Abiera, but there will still be a final screening during the day of vaccination to assess if the senior citizen is fit.
Ninfa Doydoy, a senior citizen from Barangay Funda Dalipe, San Jose, said she wanted to be vaccinated so that she and her family would have protection against COVID-19.
“Thankful ako and grateful nga wara tanda (provincial government) pagpabaya kag sige-sige man anda nga campaign nga maka-acquire man kang bakuna. Una-una gusto ko gid magpasalamat kay Governor (Rhodora) Cadiao kay na-feel ko nga wara na napabayaan ang Antique,” said Doydoy.
Sergio Cadiente of Barangay San Pedro and Lucita Seniel Pingoy of Barangay Maybato North who were both recipients of the Sinovac vaccine shared the same sentiments.
The kick off activity will last until today, according to APHO. It reminded Antiqueños not to be complacent even if the vaccination rollout has already began. There is still a dire need to comply with the standard health protocols, it stressed. (Antique PIO/PN)
