BACOLOD CITY – The Negros Occidental provincial government will use the initial supply of its procured AstraZeneca vaccines against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) for individuals under the A4 priority group.
This group includes frontline workers in essential sectors such as uniformed personnel.
“Only as far as those that we bought. Yes, we will introduce (it to) the A4. For those that are donated, we still have to continue up to A3 (adults with comorbidities) only,” Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said in an interview with Capitol reporters on Wednesday.
Lacson, however, did not say the date of the rollout yet.
On July 19, Negros Occidental received the first shipment of 290 vials or 2,900 doses of AstraZeneca jabs it procured through a multilateral agreement with the national government and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Philippines Inc.
However, Lacson had expressed disappointment over the limited supply that arrived since the provincial government was able to secure 100,000 doses of the European brand.
The province’s existing supply of 10,000 doses of AstraZeneca, which is part of the allocation it received from the national government recently, has been distributed to various local government units (LGUs) starting Wednesday to be administered for A2 (senior citizens) vaccinees until July 24.
The provincial government will also roll out the Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) single-dose Janssen vaccines to the LGUs across the province on July 26 to 30.
It received 14,000 vials or 70,000 doses of J&J jab from the national government on Monday.
The vaccines will be administered mainly for the A2 to A3 priority sectors, or the senior citizens, and adults with comorbidities, respectively. (PNA)
