2,117 Ilocos Norte hospital workers injected with coronavirus vaccines

Medical staff administer vaccines to hospital workers in Ilocos Norte. PHOTO BY JOHN MICHAEL MUGAS

LAOAG CITY—At least 2,117 health workers from public and private hospitals in Ilocos Norte have been injected with coronavirus vaccines since March 6, health officials said on Friday (March 19).

Dr. Rheuel Bobis, COVID-19 focal person of the Department of Health (DOH) in the Ilocos region, told the Inquirer that at least 89.74 percent of the 2,359 eligible health workers from the seven public and five private hospitals in Ilocos Norte had already been vaccinated.

Bobis said the DOH was “very satisfied” with the result of the vaccine rollout in Ilocos Norte.

An earlier survey showed that only around 44 percent of health workers in the province had initially wanted to be injected with the vaccines.

Bobis said the “undecided” health workers were convinced to get the injected after they saw that those who were first to get the vaccine, mostly doctors, had only “minimal side effects.”

Dr. Norman Rabago, provincial health consultant, said the three COVID-19 referral hospitals in Ilocos Norte had capped off on March 18 their vaccination rollout for the first doses of the China-made CoronaVac and British-made AstraZeneca vaccines.

According to DOH records, the Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center in Batac City had already injected 1,044 out of its 1,062 health workers.

At least 275 out of 305 health workers at the Governor Roque B. Ablan Sr. Memorial Hospital (GRAMH) in Laoag received the vaccines, while 174 of 235 health workers had been injected at the Laoag City General Hospital (LCGH).

At least 60 employees among the 550 combined workforce of LCGH and GRAMH initially registered for the vaccination program, according to the survey done by the provincial government.

So far, at least 469 health workers from five private hospitals were also injected, while 154 health workers had received the vaccines in the four public hospitals in Bangui, Piddig, Marcos, and Dingras towns, according to DOH records.

The vaccination rollout in Ilocos Norte would continue on March 22 to target the health workers assigned to local health units, said Rabago.

TSB