By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The provincial government of Negros Occidental has changed its mind over the distribution of the 10,700 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, and has started the rollout among the local government units (LGUs) but with several conditions.

Provincial administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, yesterday said the LGUs must immediately dispose of all of their allocated vaccines to their respective constituents.

Diaz explained that the provincial government wants zero leftovers because of the more complicated storage requirement for the US-made vaccine.

“What we delivered today, ubuson gid,” he said.

The Moderna vaccine’s storage requirement is at -50 to -15 degrees Celsius, he said, pointing out that it would be difficult to store once the vaccine is returned to them.

The provincial administrator added that the LGUs must also comply with the distribution from A1 (frontline healthcare workers), A2 (senior citizens), and A3 (persons with comorbidities) categories.

Once they have met the targeted requirements, Diaz said the LGUs are authorized to start inoculating those under the A4 (other frontline economic workers) and A5 (indigent population) category.

On Tuesday, August 10, Diaz said about 11 percent or 154,539 individuals of the target1.4 million residents in Negros Occidental have so far been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Data also showed that 216,699 individuals were administered with two-dose vaccines (Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Pfizer) while 76,736 got the single-dose Janssen shots. /DGB, WDJ