The Dutertes at the oath-taking of youngest son Sebastian, as Vice Mayor, on 21 June 2019. (L to R), Sebastian (Vice Mayor), Elizabeth Zimmerman, President Rodrigo Duterte, Sara (Mayor) and Paolo (Representative, 1st District). Joey Dalumpines/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 17 May) – President Rodrigo Duterte’s former wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, 73, received Monday her first dose of CoronaVac, the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac, Mayor Sara Duterte said.
During her program aired over Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR 87.5), Duterte said her septuagenarian mother was among the senior citizens vaccinated at the Matina Aplaya Elementary School in Barangay Matina Aplaya.
Zimmerman was originally scheduled to get inoculated last Friday but it was postponed due to Tropical Storm “Crising.”
Duterte said her mother was relieved of her fear of COVID-19 after receiving the first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine from China.
“She was scheduled last Friday but it was cancelled. Her fears recurred over the weekend, but finally she was vaccinated today,” she said.
She said Zimmerman felt fine after vaccination.
Dr. Ashley Lopez, acting head of the City Health Office, said at least 4,000 senior citizens, who comprised the A2 priority list of the national government, have been vaccinated since the vaccine rollout for senior citizens kicked off Tuesday last week.
The city government listed a total of 88,381 senior citizens who want to get vaccinated.
Duterte encouraged the senior citizens to pre-register for the vaccination program of the government.
Last May 11, the Davao region received 161,330 additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines, of which 80 were CoronaVac, 29,250 of Pfizer and 132,000 of Astrazenaca. This brought to 309,330 the total number of doses the region got since March 2.
As of May 16, the Department of Health-Davao reported 160 new cases, bringing the total cases to 25,006, with 1,620 active, 22,365 recoveries and 1,021 deaths in the region.
Out of the total, Davao City, which reported the highest COVID-19 cases in Mindanao, tallied 15,304 cases, with 709 active, 13,886 recoveries and 709 deaths.
Davao de Oro reported 1,717 COVID-19 cases, Davao del Norte with 4,556, Davao del Sur with 1,662, Davao Occidental with 246 and Davao Oriental with 1,521.
