Olongapo City registers 100% consumption of Sinovac vaccines

OLONGAPO CITY–Mayor Rolen Paulino on Friday (May 28) said the city’s consumption of the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine was rated at 100 percent, reflecting a heightened acceptance for vaccination among Olongapo’s eligible frontliners.

CoronaVac is manufactured by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac and is among the three brands available in the country along with those developed by AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

In his online public service program, Paulino said Olongapo’s Sinovac consumption rate is the highest in Central Luzon.

He said about 15,000 medical frontliners and Olongapo’s elderly had received at least a dose, while about 10,000 priority recipients have been given their second doses.

The city has also received an allocation of the AstraZeneca vaccines. But Paulino said the city’s supply of vaccines was still limited.

The city intends to vaccinate about 196,000 residents, who make up 70 percent of the city’s population of about 280,000.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire recently lauded Olongapo’s vaccine rollout for partnering with a shopping mall giant in order to open a wide venue for inoculating the elderly.

In a recent briefing, Vergeire said the Department of Health wants to replicate the strategy of the Olongapo government’s jab rollout. JOANNA ROSE AGLIBOT

/MUF