ILOILO – Dr. Maria Socorro Colmenares-Quiñon, head of the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO), said they are anticipating the bivalent vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after receiving a report from the Department of Health (DOH) of its arrival in the country.
Health workers expressed their excitement, especially those working in the 13 district hospitals, including the Iloilo Provincial Hospital in Pototan, according to Colmenares-Quiñon.
“There is a report from the DOH nga may maabot nga bivalent vaccines nga ginaka-excite man sang tanan because it could provide more protection especially for health workers,” she said.
However, the IPHO head said it has not yet been determined who will receive the bivalent vaccines first.
The DOH has not yet issued guidelines.
Colmenares-Quiñon also hopes the public would be interested in getting the bivalent vaccines.
Meanwhile, the provincial government received reports from vaccinators in different towns, including the component city Passi, of the slow uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“Ang uptake subong sang aton vaccines manubo, damo ang indi na magpabakuna,” said Colmenares-Quiñon.
As of March 9, only 1,377,816 got their first dose; second dose – 1,292,372; first booster – 288,885; and second booster – 24,861.
The province targets inoculating 70 percent, or 1,461,756, of the total population.
Colmenares-Quiñon said the public may have been confident of the protection offered by the first and second vaccine doses, especially with the decreasing number of COVID-19 cases recorded.
This inevitably caused unused vaccines to expire despite the provincial government having cold storage.
As of March 12, IPHO data showed 1,004 active cases left out of the 50,120 cumulative cases since 2020. Of the total, 47,436 have recovered and 1,636 have died./PN
