DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 9 Feb) – The national government has committed to deliver more doses of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines in Davao City, Mayor Sara Duterte said.
Mayor Sara Duterte. Photo from the City Government of Davao Facebook page
The mayor said during her program over Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR 87.5) on Monday that Dabawenyos can expect additional doses of vaccines following the delivery of the initial doses of Pfizer vaccines by the end of this month.
She said the local government will get its share of the COVID-19 vaccines from the national government even before the arrival of its order for AstraZeneca’s AZD1222, the vaccine jointly developed by the British firm and Oxford University, which will be delivered by the third quarter of this year.
“There was a verbal message from the national government that there will be more vaccines arriving after Pfizer,” Duterte said.
The Pfizer vaccines will be administered to frontline healthcare workers of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), the primary medical institution here that caters to COVID-19 patients.
But Duterte said she had already asked health officials if the Pfizer vaccines can be distributed to other private hospitals if there will be an excess.
She said has no knowledge as to the number of doses and brand of vaccines that will be given to the city in succeeding months.
“We will prioritize the frontliners in our hospital because the hospital is a critical infrastructure because this is where COVID-19 patients with severe and moderate patients are sent to.
When they (frontliners) are protected already, we expect that they will no longer fear or at least lessen their psychological stress in their jobs and we can encourage other nurses to return to work because many of them are hesitating about working for our hospitals due to the risks of COVID-19,” the mayor said.
Under the Ordinance for the Implementation of the COVID-19 Immunization Program passed last February 2, the order of individuals prioritized for the immunization program will be frontliner health workers from the private and public sector currently on active practice/service, regardless if permanent, contractual, job order, and/or outsourced employees or staff; indigent senior citizens registered and as determined by the Department of Social Welfare and Development; remaining senior citizens who are not categorized as indigent; and all enlisted uniformed personnel in active services under military, police, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU).
The next to be prioritized will be all teachers and school workers, whether permanent, job order, contractual or outsourced in all education levels, from primary, secondary, tertiary, and vocational educational institutions, both private and public; all government workers whether permanent, job order, contractual or outsourced; essential workers in industries identified by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Labor and Employment; socio-demographic groups at significant higher risk other than senior citizen and indigent populations; eligible students in primary, secondary, tertiary, and vocational educational institutions; Filipino migrant workers who reside in another country for a limited period of time that were not vaccinated; and all remaining Filipino workforce as determined by DOLE, DTI, and Civil Service Commission.
As of February 8, the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao Region reported 75 new cases, bringing the total cases to 18,297, with 2,579 active, 14,974 recoveries, and 744 deaths in the region.
Out of the total, Davao City, which reported the highest COVID-19 cases in Mindanao, tallied 12,109 cases, with 1,353 active, 10,181 recoveries, and 575 deaths. Davao de Oro reported 1,013 cases, Davao del Norte with 2,617, Davao del Sur with 1,268, Davao Occidental with 211, and Davao Oriental with 1,079. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
