A total of 146 inmates and one personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Bago City, Negros Occidental got their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine last September 25.

The vaccination was initiated by the Bago City government in partnership with the Philippine Red Cross-Negros Occidental Chapter. The team led by Dr. Grace De Juan of the City Health Office administered the vaccines.

Jail Senior Insp. Romeo Valenzuela thanked the city government led by Mayor Nicholas Yulo for also including and prioritizing persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) for the vaccination drive.

For his part, Yulo said that Bagonhons inside the BJMP facility are among the city’s target vaccine recipients.

“There was a bit of a delay in the implementation due to vaccine supply availability. However, today we were able to successfully inoculate our PDLs and we are looking forward to their second dose,” the mayor added.

In a press briefing last month, the national BJMP calls for prioritization of prisoners in COVID-19 vaccination citing that their bureau has a population of 119,692 PDLs and only 10,939 were inoculated so far with 4,259 have been fully vaccinated and 6, 680 were given their first dose./WDJ