With the arrival of the additional 20,000 COVID-19 vaccines last March 10, 2021, Zamboanga Peninsula gears up the vaccination program for high-risk sectors with 11,000 vials of which is allocated for the medical workers in the region.
Dr. Joshua Brillantes, DOH-9 Director, said that the 11,000 vials from the arrival of the second batch of vaccines will be for the medical workers in the region. As of Thursday, March 11, 2021, at least 3, 692 frontline health workers were inoculated against COVID-19 in both public and private hospitals in the region.
528 medical workers were vaccinated in Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC). ZCMC was the first to roll out the vaccination program as it had kicked off last March 05, 2021, hours after the local government welcomed the first shipment of the vaccines. 487 from Zamboanga del Norte Medical Center, 450 from Zamboanga Sibugay provincial hospital, 369 from Zamboanga del Sur Medical Center, and 290 health workers from Jose Rizal Memorial Hospital were recorded to have been inoculated.
Of the 20,000 vials that arrived last Wednesday, 10,000 were from Sinovac, and 10,000 were from AstraZeneca.
As part of the risk communication and demand generation efforts for the preparation of COVID-19 mass vaccination, The Zamboanga City LGU together with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) and City Health Office spearheaded the “COVID-19 Vaccination Info Series” for the Federation of Senior Citizens Association under Barangay Culianan, and Manicahan on Thursday, March 11, 2021.
Philippine Medical Society- ZC Chapter President Dr. Saude Imlan has also expressed his support for the Local Government’s vaccination program and encouraged the Zamboangueño to avail of the vaccine as soon as it is made available to the public.
The Office of the City Planning and Development Coordinator released the results of the opinion survey conducted last February 2021 showing that District 1 residents (48%) are more open to taking vaccines without condition as opposed to District 2 residents (45%) and US-made Pfizer was the most favored vaccine among the 1,384 respondents from the 87 barangays in the City.
Based on the COVID-19 Data Tracker, Zamboanga City’s confirmed COVID-19 cases total 4,211 with 3,954 recoveries, 68 active cases, and 189 mortalities as of March 08, 2021.
