More Sinovac vaccines arrive in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines — An additional 44,400 doses of Sinovac vaccines for healthcare workers in Central Visayas arrived in Cebu yesterday.

Department of Health-7 spokesperson Dr. Mary Jane Loreche said the region now have a total of 178,560 doses of COVID-19 vaccines—30,000 Astrazeneca and 148,560 Sinovac. 

Loreche said the additional doses are still intended for healthcare workers who are on the top of the priority list.

As of April 12, at least 74,414 healthcare workers have been vaccinated. Loreche said they are targeting 131,783 healthcare workers to be inoculated in Central Visayas.

Loreche said 1,875 of those who have already received the vaccine reported side effects albeit mild symptoms.

Media on priority list

On the other hand, Loreche has confirmed that members of the media are now included in the vaccination priority list under the A4 bracket as announced by Vince Dizon, deputy chief implementer of National Task Force Against COVID-19. The guidelines, however, are yet to be released.

Vaccination manual

 Meanwhile, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas yesterday turned over to all the mayors of Cebu province the handbook of the Visayas COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC).

The instructional manual, authored by Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF)-Visayas chief implementer Ret. Gen. Mel Feliciano, will serve as guide for the implementation of community vaccination program in Cebu and the Visayas region.

“Before today, we have already seen the manual to be effective as we have conducted a pilot test in Mandaue City, the first to implement community vaccination in the Visayas serving as a benchmark for all other localities. Hence, this handbook-manual should be cascaded to the local government units in the Visayas,” said OPAV Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino.

Dino urged the Cebu mayors to use the manual.

“We will do our best to have this manual rolled out in the entire Visayas as we carry on with our COVID-19 vaccination program.  We urge the public to do their part by having themselves vaccinated. But of course we need to follow the approved prioritization framework with an aim of protecting our frontline defense towards a faster socio-economic recovery,” Dino said.

Mandaue was the first LGU in Cebu and Visayas to undertake community vaccination for COVID-19 with the successful pilot testing of the first-ever community vaccination center in the city.

The local government followed the handbook for the establishment of its vaccination sites.

 The VVOC was born out of the efforts of various stakeholders who have pooled their efforts, resources and expertise together to create a set of specific, data-driven, well-studied guidelines that will serve as a compass for local government units to follow in their respective local vaccination operations centers.

The VVOC is led by OPAV together with IATF-Visayas, DOH-7 and the private sector through the Project Balik Buhay (PBB).

Businessman Edmund Liu, chairman of PBB, cited the Cebu business community’s strong support to the national vaccination program, saying that hospitals and establishments have offered their spaces to be venues for mass inoculation.

Liu said that private companies have also been asked to submit the names of their employees who belong to the priority sector as identified under the national prioritization framework of the government’s vaccination plan. — FPL (FREEMAN)