2 Bulacan cities start AstraZeneca vaccine rollout for frontliners

Dr. Cesario Ira, 72, director of Meycauayan Doctors Hospital and Meycauayan Medical Center, gets inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19. About 1,700 health frontliners in the City of Meycauayan are targeted for the local mass vaccination program. (Photo by Carmela Reyes-Estrope)

CITY OF MEYCAUAYAN –– A 72-year-old doctor in this city on Wednesday led the mass vaccination of front-liners using the AstraZeneca brand of jabs against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Dr. Cesario Ira, director of Meycauayan Doctors Hospital and Meycauayan Medical Center, was the first to get inoculated with the vaccine produced by a British pharmaceutical firm.

About 600 other medical frontliners also received the vaccines during the initial rollout at the Marymount Professional College inside the Meycauayan Doctors’ Hospital.

The city targets to inoculate around 1,700 healthcare workers and medical frontliners with AstraZeneca vaccine, said Dr. Abelardo Bordador, city health officer.

Sixty-four vials of AstraZeneca arrived in Meycauayan early this week.

Mayor Linabelle Villarica said 70 percent of the city’s population of 250,000 would be vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity.

Villarica said the city government had allotted a P102-million separate fund to buy COVID-19 vaccines.

In the City of San Jose del Monte, Ramon Abadilla, chief operating Officer of Qualimed Hospital, said 1,306 medical frontliners in Level 2 private hospitals in the city were inoculated on Tuesday, March 16. INQ

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