Priority sectors start getting vaccine vs COVID-19 in Subic Freeport

A free immunization drive against COVID-19 targets employees of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Subic Bay Freeport residents, and workers. Photo courtesy of SBMA

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT –– The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) on Tuesday kicked off its rollout of the vaccine against COVID-19, the agency officials said.

At least 120 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were administered to some of the SBMA employees, residents, and workers inside the free port.

Ronnie Yambao, SBMA deputy administrator for health and safety, said their target was to complete 250 vaccinations per day at the Subic Gym until Friday to use up all the first batch of the vaccine.

“We have six volunteer doctors giving the shots and 15 nurses, and 10 administrative staff from the SBMA Public Health and Safety Department, who undertake registration, counseling, and processing, so we’re up to it and I believe we can finish with this batch and take on the next ones,” Yambao said in a statement.

Wilma Eisma, SBMA chair, and administrator said the initial doses of vaccines are for free and intended for the A1 to A3 priority groups as determined by the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group.

These priority groups include frontline workers in health facilities and health professionals, both private and public; senior citizens 60 years old and above; and persons with comorbidities.

“For this first batch under the Department of Health (DOH)-SBMA program, we have secured a total of 1,147 doses for the A1 to A3 groups. But actually, a total of 5,705 doses of various vaccine brands will be allocated and I hope that would cover the majority of our intended recipients,” Eisma said.

She also urged Subic stakeholders to sign up for the immunization program and take advantage of the free vaccines from the DOH.

“This is not only for our health and the safety of our family; it is also for the sake of our economy because we need to be healthy to sustain our jobs and livelihood,” Eisma said.

Due to the limited vaccine supplies, the government has sourced vaccines from seven manufacturers for its vaccination program.

The DOH said only those vaccines with emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration would be given to the public.

The vaccines authorized by the FDA include those made by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Coronavac, Sputnik, Janssen, Covaxin, and Moderna.

LZB