Vaccination turnout in Cagayan de Oro dips after death of elderly

THE WAIT Senior citizens in Cagayan de Oro City wait for their turn to be vaccinated in an inoculation center inside the SM Downtown Premier mall. —PHOTO FROM THE CDO CITY INFORMATION OFFICE

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Philippines — The turnout for the inoculation in this city for senior citizens dipped on Friday, two days after a 73-year-old man died on Wednesday just minutes after receiving a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Mayor Oscar S. Moreno, at a press briefing on Friday, noted that only about 500 of the 1,200 seniors scheduled for vaccination that day came forward at their designated inoculation centers.

Prior to Wednesday’s incident, Moreno said that some 6,275 seniors had already taken the first shot of either the British-made AstraZeneca or the China-produced CoronaVac vaccine.

Moreno was hopeful that the city’s elderly would regain their confidence and allow themselves to be vaccinated after a police autopsy found that Zoilo Joaquin Borcillo died of a heart attack and not due to the vaccine.

The vaccination was suspended on Sunday and set to resume on Monday.

No blood clot

Moreno read to reporters the autopsy report prepared by Police Lt. Col. Christian Karl Terrence Caballes, medico-legal officer of the northern Mindanao police office, which stated that the cause of Borcillo’s death was acute myocardial infarction, or heart attack.

“We did not find blood clots anywhere in his body or near where the point of the vaccine entered his left arm,” Caballes said in his report.

Borcillo, a resident of Agusan village, complained of difficulty of breathing minutes after he was injected with the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine at a shopping mall here.

He was subjected to cardiopulmonary resuscitation and rushed to JR Borja General Hospital but died minutes after despite efforts by doctors to revive him.

Autopsy results

According to the autopsy report, Caballes found Borcillo’s heart and the arteries leading to it filled with fatty deposits. He said the color of Borcillo’s heart was yellow, indicating the buildup of fatty deposits.

He added that Borcillo’s heart already had difficulty pumping blood.

Acting city health officer Lorraine Nery has reiterated an earlier guidance for the senior residents, especially those with comorbidity, to secure a medical certification for vaccination so that their condition would be thoroughly checked before taking the vaccine.

This is on top of the mandated due diligence process to be conducted by the vaccination team on every vaccine recipient, Nery said.

—REPORTS FROM FRANCK DICK ROSETE AND FROILAN GALLARDO INQ