Nueva Vizcaya Governor Carlos Padilla urged the province’s front-liners to avail of the CoronaVac from China instead of waiting for other brands of vaccines against coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
“We hope that this will go smoothly and effectively. This is a challenge and I will assure you that there is nothing to lose, everything to gain in supporting this program,” he said in a news briefing on March 9 that jumpstarted the provincial government’s vaccination rollout.
Unqualified to receive the CoronaVac for being a septuagenarian, Padilla said he would be willing to be inoculated once other vaccines such as AstraZeneca arrive in the province.
No serious side effects were reported by those who have been inoculated with CoronaVac except for minor soreness. One front-liner reported some rashes.
At Dupax District Hospital in Dupax del Sur, Dr. Edward Gines, chief of hospital, said the vaccine rollout raised hopes of stopping the spread of Covid-19.
On Monday, the vaccination program for health workers started at the Region 2 Trauma and Medical Center (R2TMC) with five healthcare workers as the first recipients. They were Dr. Rowena Constantino, Dr. Moises Viernes, nurse Clelia Alejandro, accountant Allon Ringpis, and Janis Borja of the Human Resource Management Office, who all reported experiencing no major side effects.
A total of 435 doses of Sinovac vaccines were earlier delivered by the Department of Health (DOH) regional office for the R2TMC.
Some five provincial government-run hospitals, namely the Nueva Vizcaya Provincial Hospital (NVPH), Kayapa District Hospital (KDH), Dupax del Sur District Hospital (DDH), Kasibu District Hospital (KDH) and the Diadi Emergency Hospital (DEH) received their allocations on Tuesday. (PNA)
