Over 9,000 E. Visayas cops fully vaccinated against COVID-19

TACLOBAN CITY — At least 9,900 policemen from Eastern Visayas have been fully vaccinated against the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The 9,975 fully vaccinated policemen represent 99.12 percent of the 11,733 total police force in the region, according to the records from the medical and dental unit of the Eastern Visayas police.

Col. Alex Bragat, chief of the medical and dental unit, said 1,660 policemen are still waiting for their first dose of the vaccines.

The rest remains unvaccinated due to medical conditions and other “reasonable circumstances.”

Brigadier Gen. Rommel Bernardo Cabagnot, police regional director, hoped all policemen in the region will be inoculated against the virus before the end of the year.

“I hope that Police Regional Office 8 will be 100 percent compliant with this program as this not only benefits the personnel receiving the vaccine but more so, his or her family and the community will not be infected by the virus,” he said in a statement.

At present, eight policemen in the region are isolated due to COVID-19.

Since the pandemic started in March 2020, a total of 1,069 police officers in the region have tested positive for the virus. Two of them died.