TRIMMED AND PRETTY Workers of the Iloilo City government trim plants along JM Basa Street even amid a prolonged modified enhanced community quarantine status of the city. —PHOTO COURTESY OF ILOILO CITY GOVERNMENT
ILOILO CITY — Western Visayas received 150,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday in the wake of the clamor from local governments and private groups in the region for additional vaccine allocation from the national government.
The Sinovac vaccine doses were transported by Philippine Airlines flights to Iloilo and Bacolod cities.
The vaccines were allotted to the provinces of Aklan (8,160), Antique (8,240), Capiz (10,840), Guimaras (2,520), Iloilo (27,640) and Negros Occidental (34,800). The rest were for Bacolod City (7,800) and Iloilo City (50,000).
The Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas reported that as of June 27, a total of 591,980 vaccine doses from the national government had been distributed to the region’s six provinces and the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo.
Residents who received the first dose reached 370,284 while 115,930 had completed the two doses, the DOH said.
AstraZeneca vaccines purchased by the local governments were expected to arrive in July at the earliest, officials in the region said.
In Iloilo City, 65,049 persons have received first doses while 12,027 others completed the two doses, according to the city’s health office.
70% of population targeted
The city government was targeting to inoculate 450,000 persons, or 70 percent of total population to achieve herd immunity, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said.
Vaccinations were currently being conducted at four centers in the city: Central Philippine University gymnasium, Iloilo Convention Center, Ateneo de Iloilo gymnasium, and University of San Agustin gymnasium.
Treñas earlier asked the DOH regional office to address the alleged discrepancies in the volume of vaccines allocated to the city, as the doses received by the city health office was only 66,544, which was less than the 84,224 doses reported by the DOH.
The city government and various private groups, including doctors, lawyers and business owners, earlier appealed from the national government for more vaccine allocations amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in , which have led to a shortage in COVID-19 hospital beds. INQ