COTABATO CITY - A total of 17, 940 vials of Sinovac vaccines arrived at Awang Airport in Maguindanao shortly before Friday noon for health workers in Region 12 (Soccsksargen), health officials said.
Dr. Aristides Tan, the regional health director, said that 8, 967 health workers in 23 referral hospitals for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the region are beneficiaries of the vaccines.
“The vaccines are good for two doses for the prioritized health workers,” Tan said in a press briefing here.
He added that of the 23 hospitals, five are in North Cotabato; South Cotabato - 4; Sultan Kudarat – 4; Sarangani – 2; General Santos City – 6; and two DOH – 12 retained hospitals - those of the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center (CRMC) in Cotabato City and the Cotabato Sanitarium Hospital (CSH) in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao - are also included in the vaccine allocation.
This city, once a part of Region 12, is now under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) while Maguindanao is a long-time province component of BARMM.
“Due to the proximity of the two areas to Region-12 that the two hospitals were retained under our supervision,” Tan said.
General Santos City has the largest number of the allotted vaccine recipients at 3,138; followed by the CRMC and CSH in Cotabato City and Maguindanao with a combined number of 2, 138; South Cotabato – 1, 838; Sultan Kudarat – 1,076; North Cotabato – 441; and Sarangani – 336.
Tan said the vaccines would be kept at the DOH-12 vaccine storage facility here before its distribution to the various referral hospitals on Saturday.
The DOH-12 has scheduled a simultaneous vaccination rollout in the referral hospitals on March 8. “We would like to request our media partners to help us on our health workers’ vaccination activity through massive information dissemination,” Tan said. (PNA)