A health executive in the province of Negros Occidental underscored on Monday the importance of vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), saying this will make it possible for everyone to return to normal life.
This, as 20 medical front-liners who took the first shots of Sinovac’s CoronaVac last month started receiving their second jabs against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) at the Bacolod Government Center.
Dr. Miguel Sarabia, president of the Negros Occidental Medical Society, said vaccines are the most effective way to stop the Covid-19 pandemic and even future epidemics.
“We would like to show to the public that we, your doctors, believe that the vaccine is safe, that is good for our body to be vaccinated so that we can go ‘back to normal’ again,” he said.
Dr. Edwin Miraflor, officer-in-charge of the City Health Office (CHO), said the first batch of vaccinees who took the second dose were among those who initially received the vaccines on March 5 and 7.
Miraflor administered the second dose on Sarabia.
Dr. Dolores Rommela Tiples-Ruiz, infectious diseases specialist and president of Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases-Negros Occidental Chapter, also took her second dose.
The normal interval between the two doses is around 28 to 42 days, Tiples-Ruiz said.
The physicians were among the six medical front-liners inoculated in Bacolod City and in Western Visayas during the ceremonial vaccination held on March 5.
Sarabia, an ophthalmologist, took the vaccine together with his wife Valerie Villarosa-Sarabia, who is a registered nurse.
Data from the CHO showed that some 5,452 medical front-liners here have been inoculated against Covid-19 as of March 31.
Of the number, 3,095 received Sinovac while 2,357 were given Astra Zeneca.
Those vaccinated were both medical and non-medical staff in various hospitals, including Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital, Bacolod Adventist Medical Center, The Doctors’ Hospital, Metro Bacolod Hospital and Medical Center, Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital, and Southern Bacolod General Hospital.
Others included personnel of the CHO and Emergency Operations Center Task Force, barangay health workers, and other city government employees performing front-line functions. (PNA)
