Arjohn Gangoso, Department of Health-Region 12 health education and promotion officer (PNA GenSan file photo)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Acceptance among frontline health care workers in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines delivered by the national government has continued to increase, with the utilization rate reaching 90.81 percent.
A report on Tuesday by the Department of Health (DOH)-Region 12 said the high usage rate was recorded for the over 44,000 doses of the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines that were deployed to local government units in the region as of the end of March.
It covered the first dose of the eligible medical professionals and hospital staff, community health workers and personnel of rural health units (RHU).
Arjohn Gangoso, DOH-12 health education and promotion officer, said a total of 39,927 frontline health care workers were covered by the region-wide vaccination activities since March 7.
Some 32,225 were vaccinated with AstraZeneca while 7,702 others received the Sinovac vaccine, he said.
He attributed the high acceptance rate among health workers to the proven safety and efficacy of the vaccines against Covid-19.
“The vaccination activities across the region are ongoing and the coverage has been continually expanding,” he said in a radio interview.
Gangoso said they expect the arrival of more vaccine supplies for the area in the coming days to complete the inoculation of the eligible health workers, which reached over 62,000 based on the master list submitted by the RHUs.
On Monday, the vaccination activities formally started for the second dose or booster shots of the 6,733 health workers from 23 Covid-19 referral hospitals who received the Sinovac vaccines from March 7 to 14.
The eligible recipients are 2,666 hospital workers from this city, 1,455 from South Cotabato, 1,179 from Cotabato City, 745 from Sultan Kudarat, 413 from North Cotabato and 275 from Sarangani.
DOH-12 recorded a vaccination rate of 75 percent for the first batch of eligible workers based on the 8,967 target. (PNA)
