(File photo)
MANILA – A total of 7,746 police front-liners have been inoculated with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported on Wednesday.
Citing the latest data, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, PNP deputy chief for administration, said this includes 5,955 police officers vaccinated with Sinovac vaccines and 1,791 with AstraZeneca jabs.
Of the 5,955 police officers injected with Sinovac, around 1,549 were already given their second dose.
Eleazar added that three police attachés got Moderna vaccines while two police attachés received Pfizer jabs abroad.
Meanwhile, another police officer succumbed to the disease, bringing the PNP's death toll to 47.
The latest fatality is a 40-year-old police non-commissioned officer (PNCO) with the rank of staff sergeant assigned in Metro Manila who tested positive for Covid-19 on April 7 and died on Tuesday.
According to reports from the PNP Health Service, the police officer experienced flu-like symptoms on March 21 but did not report his condition to his unit and refused to go to a quarantine facility.
On March 22, he experienced shortness of breath, cough, colds, and diarrhea. He made an online consultation with a private physician and was advised to take azithromycin for three days.
Instead of reporting to the quarantine facility, he opted to buy his own oxygen for home use and continued self-medicating.
After finding out that he tested positive for Covid-19, he chose to be brought to a hospital instead of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Special Care Facility (SCF). He finally agreed to be quarantined at the facility after failing to get admitted to a hospital.
On April 8, his chest X-ray results showed he has bilateral pneumonia. He was transferred to a hospital in Marikina on April 10 and died three days later.
"I am reminding again all our police personnel to be cautious of your health conditions and do not self-medicate as it may get worse," Sinas said.
Meanwhile, Eleazar also reported 197 police personnel have recovered from Covid-19 as of Tuesday night.
This brings the number of recovered police personnel to 15,389, out of a total of 17,917 cases.
The police force also logged 288 new Covid-19 infections, raising the total number of active cases to 2,481, he said. (PNA)
