Bangsamoro Health Minister Dr. Amirel Usman gets vaccinated with Sinovac on March 5 at the Integrated Provincial Hospital Office in Maguindanao. PHOTO FROM BANGSAMORO INFORMATION OFFICE
COTABATO CITY—Three hundred medical frontliners from Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) in Maguindanao have been inoculated with Sinovac vaccine.
Bangsamoro Health Minister Dr. Amirel Usman, who became the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) medical frontliner to receive the initial dose of the said jab held on Friday, encouraged the Bangsamoro constituents to support the government’s vaccination program.
Usman said that although it is not imposed to everyone and not mandatory, getting vaccinated is a moral obligation of everyone.
He reassured that in case there will be an adverse reaction during the vaccination, Ministry of Health (MOH) will provide a medical team that will observe the receiver within 30 minutes to one hour.
The Maguindanao health workers signed waiver documents before getting vaccinated. The second dose of vaccine will be administered on April 2, four weeks after their first shots.
On Thursday, 4,200 vials of vaccine for Bangsamoro region arrived at Awang Airport, Maguindanao, with 1,400 intended for Maguindanao.
According to IPHO Maguindanao Provincial Health Officer Dr. Elizabeth Samama, the allotted Sinovac vaccines for the province were divided into four hospitals, such as the IPHO (600 vials), Buluan District Hospital (300 vials), Datu Blah District Hospital (300 vials), and Datu Odin District Hospital (200 vials).
“Today marks the beginning of that long been wished for event that a vaccine against COVID-19 gets into our arms,” Samama said.
“Our gratitude for the tremendous support we received and we are receiving to continue the fight against our unseen enemy,” she added.
Buluan District Hospital will start its vaccination on March 8, while the Datu Blah and Datu Odin District Hospitals will start on March 9.