DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) – A total of 16,595 health care workers in Davao Region have been inoculated with anti-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines as of Wednesday since the vaccination program started here last March 5, according to the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao.
Of this total, 13,507 received the CoronaVac of China’s Sinovac while 3,088 received AstraZeneca from UK, the agency said.
It added that a total of 26,800 doses out of the 53,600 vaccines received were already distributed across 166 vaccination sites in the region. Of these doses, 33,600 came from Sinovac and 20,000 from AstraZeneca.
Davao City, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mindanao, reported having vaccinated 9,212 health care workers, Davao de Oro 1,707, Davao del Norte 3,825, Davao del Sur 983, Davao Occidental 130, and Davao Oriental 744.
DOH-Davao said current deployment “is limited to priority group-A1 or frontline healthcare workers who were given the option between CoronaVac and AstraZeneca vaccines.”
The agency also listed a total of 77,570 hospital healthcare workers eligible to receive the vaccines. Of this total, 20,399 are in Davao City, 12, 971 in Davao de Oro, 20,596 in Davao del Norte, 11,846 in Davao del Sur, 3,058 in Davao Occidental, and 8,700 in Davao Oriental.
Davao City Health Office acting head Dr. Ashley Lopez said National Task Force Against COVID 19 chief Carlito G. Galvez Jr. has assured that the city would still be prioritized to receive in the distribution of the two million doses of Sinovac vaccines arriving in the country between March 22 and 25.
He said they hope to start with the vaccination of 77,189 senior citizens by the first week of April and afterward 432,549 indigent Dabawenyos.
“If the vaccine supplies would be enough, we could do it simultaneously. We will continue and pursue other groups. We can start with the indigents simultaneously or after the senior citizens but it will depend on allocations of our supply,” he said.
He said vaccination of the senior citizens will be done in the hospitals for monitoring of possible adverse reactions.
As of March 17, the DOH-Davao reported 60 new cases, bringing the total to 20,777 with 833 active ones, 19,058 recoveries, and 886 deaths in the region.
Of the total, Davao City, which reported the highest COVID-19 incidence in Mindanao, tallied 13,432 cases, with 381 active ones, 12,399 recoveries, and 652 deaths.
Davao de Oro reported 1,253 cases, Davao del Norte 3,199, Davao del Sur 1,393, Davao Occidental 220, and Davao Oriental 1,280. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
