VAX JAB. Negros Oriental Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion (seated) receives a CoronaVac shot in an undated photo. The province has inoculated almost 6,000 front-liners but it has now run out of vaccines. (Photo from the Provincial Government of Negros Oriental's Facebook page)
DUMAGUETE CITY – The province of Negros Oriental has inoculated a total of 5,789 front-liners in government and private hospitals against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) but it has run out of vaccines and is still awaiting additional deliveries.
Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion, health committee chair of the province’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), in a virtual press briefing Wednesday afternoon said they had used all of the vaccines previously delivered to the province.
Negros Oriental received in three separate batches of deliveries this month a total of 8,484 doses of CoronaVac and 3,140 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.
“Sad to say, we no longer have available vaccines but we hope that by the weekend there will be fresh delivery for the additional front-liners here that have not been inoculated yet,” she said in mixed English and Cebuano dialect.
She did not mention how many of them have not yet received the shots.
While waiting for the arrival of more vaccines, “We are on status quo”, she said even as she reiterated the World Health Organization’s reminder that regardless of whether a person has been vaccinated or not, everyone must continue observing the minimum health protocols.
Estacion said the total number of front-liners inoculated versus the total number of vaccines received varies because they have set aside enough for the second dose of the front-liners who already received the first jabs.
She also noted minor vaccine wastage, which she did not elaborate on.
She also asked the private hospitals that may still have available vaccines to administer these already to the other front-liners.
Meanwhile, Estacion called on close contacts of Covid-19 positive patients and those with symptoms of influenza-like illness to immediately inform health authorities in their locality for assessment.
She said reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing at the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital Molecular Laboratory (NOPHML) is for free for people under these categories.
Only those requiring RT-PCR negative results for travel, leisure, and work requirements will be charged accordingly, based on what is stipulated in a provincial ordinance.
Meanwhile, the NOPHML will be closed beginning Good Friday until Easter Sunday and will resume operations on Monday (April 5), Estacion said. (PNA)
