A total of 591 medical workers assigned at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame received booster shots against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) during its rollout on Monday.
Citing the latest data from the PNP Health Service on Tuesday, PNP deputy chief for administration, Lt. Gen. Joselito Vera Cruz, said the number is part of the 1,242 Camp Crame-based medical workers who have signed up for booster doses.
The 591 medical front-liners include 178 police commissioned officers (PCO), 309 police non-commissioned officers (PNCO), and 104 non-uniformed personnel (NUP).
Vera Cruz, also the commander of Administrative Support and Covid-19 Task Force (ASCOFT), said they received 111 vials (six doses each) of Pfizer vaccines from the Department of Health (DOH) that will be allocated for 666 personnel.
“We are very thankful that our medical front-liners were given the initial allocation of 666 doses of Pfizer vaccines for their booster shot. Kahit na pababa na ang mga new and active cases namin sa PNP, napakalaking bagay na mabigyan ng (Even though our new and active cases at the PNP are going down, there is a lot to be given) booster shots, especially our medical front-liners who are essential in dealing with a possible surge in Covid-19 cases amid reopening of the economy and the upcoming Christmas season,” Vera Cruz told reporters.
He added that they will request additional booster doses from the DOH.
“We are now consolidating the vaccine booster preferences of our medical front-liners who will not be accommodated in the initial allocation for the preparation of the corresponding requests to DOH,” said Vera Cruz.
The PNP medical and healthcare front-liners performing hospital duty are the first ones to receive the Pfizer booster shots while next in line are the 171 members of the PNP Medical Reserve Force serving in PNP-run quarantine facilities.
The rest of the booster doses will be administered to senior citizen NUPs and PNP personnel with comorbidities and immunocompromised state.
PNP chief, Gen. Dionardo Carlos, in a separate statement, said the police force targets to complete the administration of booster shots to its medical front-liners at the soonest possible time as they will be fielded for the National Vaccination Days set from November 29 to December 1.
Based on the PNP’s latest data, 209,642 personnel have been fully vaccinated while 14,001 have already received their first dose.
However, 2,132 personnel are still unvaccinated due to various reasons — mainly due to medical conditions such as allergic reaction, recent recovery from Covid-19, or recent vaccination against flu or pneumonia.
As of Tuesday, the number of active cases of Covid-19 in the PNP dipped to 97, with only 11 new infections.
This is a significant drop in the number of active cases in over two months after the PNP logged a peak of 3,217 active cases last September 17.
The police force also logged 18 new recoveries, raising the tally to 41,951 out of a total of 42,173 confirmed cases.
The death toll stands at 125. (PNA)
