5 doctors, a nurse lead the city’s vaccine rollout
Five doctors and a nurse from Bacolod City made history for being Western Visayas’ first recipients of vaccines against COVID-19.
Dr. Miguel Sarabia, ophthalmologist and president of Negros Occidental Medical Society, and his wife, Valerie Villarosa-Sarabia, a nurse; Dr. Hector Gayares Jr., chief executive officer of the Adventist International Healthcare System Philippines and deputy medical volunteer at the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) ; Dr. Dolores Rommela Tiples-Ruiz, infectious diseases specialist and president of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases – Negros Occidental Chapter; Dr. Radela Yvonne Ramos-Cortes, allergologist (Internal Medicine, Allergy, and Immunology); and Dr. Carlos Javier Primicias Jr., a pediatrician, led the city’s Sinovac vaccine rollout at the Bacolod City Government Center on Friday.
Before the vaccine rollout, officials of the EOC and the COVID-19 Vaccination Council received the 6,300 doses of Sinovac vaccines, the first vaccine against COVID-19 to arrive in the city, upon its arrival at the Bacolod-Silay Airport around 9:00 a.m. on Friday.
Dr. Chris Sorongon, deputy for medical data and analysis of the EOC, said of the 6,300 doses of Sinovac vaccines, 1,600 doses were allocated to medical frontliners of Corazon locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital and 600 doses for Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital (Riverside Medical Center).
The remaining doses will go to the other medical frontliners from other hospitals in the city.
City Health Office officer-in-charge Edwin Miraflor added that the first doses of the vaccines should be utilized within five days. The city will continue its vaccine rollout on Sunday, March 7.
“This is historic! This is the first vaccine to arrive in Bacolod. Let it be part of history that the first vaccination in Western Visayas happened in Bacolod City, as the first COVID-19 case in Western Visayas was also recorded in Bacolod City. This makes today’s event more significant and meaningful,” Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said.
He added, “Let it be put on record that like the others who were also clobbered by COVID-19, during those rough times, Bacolod was also one of the first to recover.”
The mayor also said that he will surely get vaccinated but will consider the vaccine age restrictions./WDJ