Members of the Manila Police District (MPD), mostly with comorbidities, and some senior officers have received their first doses of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the MPD, though Director Brig. Gen. Leo Francisco, thanked Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso for providing them with vaccines.

“The police are always visible but are not invincible as around 37 police personnel have died from the Covid-19 virus and thousands are still recuperating from the virus,” the MPD post read.

On Thursday, the Philippine National Police confirmed a 38th fatality, a 46-year-old police officer assigned to the Drug Enforcement Group.

The cause of death was acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) secondary to Covid-19 infection.

Experts say ARDS is a form of oxygenation failure primarily characterized by rapid inflammation resulting from a direct pulmonary or indirect systemic insult.

Asymptomatic respiratory tract infection progresses from pneumonia to ARDS.

As of Wednesday, the PNP had 2,349 active cases after reporting 239 new infections.

Francisco said the vaccine would serve as an additional armor to shield the MPD personnel from the dreaded unseen enemy.

The vaccination was done at the MPD Headquarters in Manila.

Meanwhile, the Manila Public Information Office said 4,387 have been vaccinated as of 2 p.m. on Thursday, including 395 from the MPD and 53 from the City Hall.

Domagoso said it is Manila’s policy to deploy the vaccines as soon as they receive them from the national government.

“Dapat kung ano ang bilis ng impeksyon, dapat mas mabilis ang vaccination. Ganun ang policy ng ating city government (If the infection rate is increasing fast, the vaccination should be faster. That is the policy of the city government),” he said.

Domagoso said Manila would still administer the vaccine to A1 and A2 beneficiaries who will belatedly decide to receive the available supplies.

Those in the A3 category (18 years to 59 years with comorbidities) need to present medical certificates (dated within 18 months), prescriptions of their maintenance medicines (for the past six months), and hospital records, such as a discharge summary, medical abstract or surgical and pathology records.

As of 7 p.m. on Wednesday, 13,730 under the A1 category (medical front-liners) have been inoculated, with 436 receiving their second doses.

A total of 8,380 from the A2 group (senior citizens) have also been vaccinated and 6,137 under A3. (PNA)