By Rod Lagusad
The city of Manila aims to inoculate around 2,200 of its frontline workers today as it resumes its vaccine rollout.
Manila City Health Officer Dr. Arnold Pangan said that 1,500 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were allotted to the Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center while 700 doses of CoronaVac, the vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech, went to the Sta. Ana Hospital.
At the Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center, medical frontliners fell in line in front of the hospital waiting for their turn to be vaccinated.
Initially, the hospital got around 1,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine but an additional 500 doses were added to cater to the number of frontliners who arrived.
Dr. Pangan disclosed that they will finish first all medical frontliners before moving on to the next eligible group of individuals.
“The mayor instructed me na gawin namin ito until March 31 and after that ‘pag binigyan kami ng allocations ng Department of Health then ang mangyayari niyan magmu-move na tayo sa Category 2 which is for senior citizens (The mayor instructed me to do this until March 31 and after that if the Department of Health gives us allocations then what will happen next is that we will be moving on to Category 2 which is for senior citizens),” Dr. Pangan explained.
The Manila Health Department (MDH) encouraged health care workers to get their anti-COVID 19 shots.
Eligible to be vaccinated are MDH personnel, Manila LGU hospital workers, practitioners from private medical and dental clinics as well as their staff, social workers, contact tracers, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) personnel, orphanage staff, dialysis center staff, medical clerks and interns with hospital duty and members of Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTS).
Dr. Pangan is pleased that many of the medical frontliners of the city adhere to their call.
“Napakasaya po namin dahil marami po ang pumupunta. Ibig sabihin tinatangkilik nila at naniniwala sila na mahalaga po ang pagpapabakuna (We are so happy that many of them are coming over. This means that they patronize and believe that vaccination is important),” he added.
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno is also encouraging medical frontliners to get vaccinated as the supply is limited. He stressed that it is additional protection for them and for the rest of the community.
As of 1PM today, 1,019 health workers have already been vaccinated with AstraZeneca at the Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center and 490 for the CoronaVac vaccine at the Sta. Ana Hospital or a total of 1,509.
Meanwhile, the local government of Manila reported 616 new active cases bringing the total number of active COVID-19 cases in the city to 3,548 as of 12 noon of March 26, Friday.
