Bacolod City – The provincial government of Negros Occidental is optimistic over the full utilization of more than 14,500 doses of Sinovac vaccine dispatched to local government units in the past several days, as many of them reported to have fully utilized their allocations.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said that Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson was happy about the new system being adopted to expedite the vaccination, by conducting simultaneous inoculations in the towns and cities of the province, starting Thursday last week.
Diaz said the LGUs also stepped up their rollouts to continue receiving vaccines from the provincial government. “To those doing well, we will give additional vaccines, as part of the agreement with the mayors,” he added.
He, however, admitted that there are still residents in some LGUs, who are hesitant to be vaccinated.
“We will not force them to be vaccinated,” Diaz said. What is important now is that residents in urban centers know more about the importance of the vaccines.
He noted that people interactions are being done in urban areas, travel is very rampant and businesses are operating there so the risk of infection is greater.
Starting June 28 to July 2, the provincial government will start using the 11,700 doses of Pfizer vaccine, with the Negros Residences in Bacolod City and Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City as the designated vaccination centers.
Diaz said 1,000 doses of Pfizer will be administered per day on 700 vaccinees at the Negros Residences and 300 at TLJPH.
On June 23, the provincial government reported 162 new cases, with Victorias City having the most number of active cases at 24, followed by Sipalay City – 22, Cadiz City – 19, Pulupandan and Kabankalan City – 13 each, EB Magalona and La Castellana – 12 each, while other LGUs had additional cases on single digits. (Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)