ILOILO – With this province receiving the biggest chunk of the Janssen vaccines allocated to Western Visayas, Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. said the anti-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) jabs would be distributed equally to 43 local government units (LGUs) here.
The Janssen jab is given as a single dose, thus it could speed up the vaccine rollout.
Defensor said the vaccine priority framework shall be followed; healthcare workers (A1), senior citizens (A2) and persons with comorbidities (A3) will be the first to avail themselves of the one-dose vaccine.
“Nag-meeting ang aton Provincial Health Office (PHO) together with Municipal Health Officers (MHOs). Ginaplastar na ina. We just continued the vaccination plan,” added Defensor.
LGUs and their MHOs were already aware of the master-listing of priority groups, the governor emphasized.
Iloilo recently received 80,000 doses of the vaccine by Johnson & Johnson. These were part of the 289,900 allotted to Region 6.
Those who also received allocations were: Negros Occidental (70,000 doses); Capiz, Iloilo City and Bacolod City (30,000 doses each); Antique (25,000 doses); Aklan (15,000 doses); and Guimaras (5,000 doses).
Some 4,900 doses were allotted as buffer stock.
The US, South Africa and the European Union briefly paused the rollout of the Janssen vaccine in April after reports of rare blood clots in very small numbers of people after their jab.
The US is now offering the vaccine to people over 18, after concluding that the benefits of using it outweighed any risks of side-effects. The European Medicines Agency came to the same conclusion after looking at a potential link between the vaccine and clots.
OTHER VAX UPDATE
Based on PHO’s data (as of July 9), 97,361 residents belonging to the A1 to A4 categories have already been vaccinated with their first dose of anti-COVID vaccines (CoronaVac, AstraZeneca, or Pfizer): health workers – 30,444, senior citizens – 36,400, persons with comorbidities – 29,980; uniformed personnel (A4) – 452, and others – 85.
A total of 36,148 residents already completed (two doses) their inoculation: health workers – 18,963, senior citizen – 9,638, persons with comorbidities -7,540, and uniformed personnel – seven.
To achieve herd immunity, the PHO targets to vaccinate 70 percent (1,448,757) of Iloilo’s total population 2,069,653.
Meanwhile, the PHO is hoping for a higher accomplishment in its vaccination program now that the first tranche of the AstraZeneca vaccines the province earlier ordered have arrived.
According to Provincial Health Officer Dr. Maria Socorro Quiñon, the initial 770 vials of the British-Swedish shots are being kept at the capitol’s vaccine storage facility at the Iloilo Sports Complex in La Paz, Iloilo City.
At 10 doses per vial, the 770 vials is equivalent to 7,700 doses.
Gov. Arthur Defensor, Jr. is among the first local government officials to sign a deal in January this year to buy 270,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.
The provincial government allotted P95 million for the vaccine procurement which was readily approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan./PN
