FOLLOWING the inclusion of more healthcare and frontline workers in Davao City's vaccination program, the City Health Office reported that the allocated vaccines in the city have been accounted for and are nearing depletion.
The National Government allocated 33,600 doses of Sinovac and 20,000 doses of AstraZeneca to Davao Region. Of the vaccines received, 20,000 doses of Sinovac and 2,000 AstraZeneca were given to Davao City.
As of Tuesday, March 23, a total of 12,723 out of the city's 21,442 healthcare workers have been inoculated since the vaccine rollout started on March 5.
Lopez said 8,719 healthcare workers have not yet been inoculated with the vaccine.
He said that Wednesday, March 24, was the last day of the vaccine rollout and that all allotted Sinovac vaccines were already consumed, while AstraZeneca is nearing its depletion.
"All accounted [for] atong bakuna... mga supply (All our vaccine supply were accounted for) because all were provided to healthcare workers and wala'y wastage because na account nato tanang doses gikan sa (there was no wastage because we were able to account all doses allotted by the) national government," Lopez said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio on Wednesday, March 24.
Initially, more than 10,000 healthcare workers from the public and private hospitals catering to Covid-19 patients were prioritized in the vaccine rollout.
He said the target population increased after the city decided to include other healthcare frontliners such as those working in infirmaries, stand-alone clinics, dialysis centers, and other healthcare groups.
He also said seven percent of the targeted healthcare workers were deferred from getting the vaccine after failing in the pre-vaccination screening due to their medical condition. Only less than one percent of the listed frontliners backed out on the spot.
Meanwhile, Davao City may not have a share of the additional 400,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine donated by China that arrived Wednesday morning, March 24.
CHO Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said the National Government will allot the entire 400,000 doses to the entire National Capital Region (NCR) due to the surge of Covid-19 cases, reportedly linked to the new variants namely the South African and UK variants, and the latest variant called "P-3" that originated in the country.
"Murag dili ta maapil as recipients because kabalo na ta sitwasyon sa Manila. (It looks like the city won't be among the recipients because we all know the current situation in Manila.) The national government decided to allot the 400,000 doses to NCR," Lopez said.
But he said the National Task Force Against Covid-19 Chief Carlito G. Galvez Jr. guaranteed that the city will be getting its share of the one million Sinovac doses that is expected to arrive on Monday, March 29.
"Nagpasalig atong vaccine czar na (Our vaccine czar assured that) out of one million [doses], definitely matagaan ang (there will be an allocation for) Davao City," the health official said.
Department of Health (DOH)-Davao Director Annabelle Yumang said in a virtual presser that the region is expecting an additional 43,000 doses of Sinovac of first dose for the remaining health workers.
Vaccine statistics of the DOH, National Task Force Against Covid-19, and Philippine Information Agency showed that Davao Region has already received a total of 53,600 doses of Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines.
As of 11 a.m. of March 24, a total of 28,350 or 77-percent were administered with the first dose out of the 36,800 target population.
Yumang said there is a need to inoculate all medical workers before they could proceed with the senior citizens, which comes second in the list of prioritized groups.
