By GLAZYL MASCULINO
BACOLOD CITY – The city government here has started the COVID-19 vaccination rollout following the arrival of 6,300 doses of Sinovac vaccines at the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City, Negros Occidental Friday.
Medical frontliners, according to the city officials, will be given main priority. It was part of the 600,000 initial doses donated by China to the government.
“This is historic,” Mayor Evelio Leonardia said, adding that the first vaccination in Western Visayas happened here and the first COVID-19 case in the region was also recorded in this city.
Leonardia said that like the others who were also clobbered by COVID-19, during those rough times, the city was also one of the first to recover. “This makes today’s event more significant and meaningful,” the mayor said.
Leonardia considered the vaccines as a light at the end of the tunnel. “We are still inside the tunnel but what is important is that we’re slowly moving towards the end of the tunnel through the vaccines as our light,” he added.
Six medical professionals were the first to receive the vaccine during the ceremonial vaccination held at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC).
Those who received the vaccine were Dr. Miguel Sarabia, ophthalmologist and president of Negros Occidental Medical Society, and his wife, Valerie Villarosa-Sarabia, a nurse. They are the first couple here to have received the vaccine.
Other doctors who received the vaccine were Hector Gayares Jr., chief executive officer of the Adventist International Healthcare System Philippines, deputy medical volunteer at the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center, and conceptualized the One Hospital Command Center (OHCC); Dolores Rommela Tiples-Ruiz, infectious diseases specialist and president of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases-Negros Occidental Chapter; Radela Yvonne Ramos-Cortes, allergologist (Internal Medicine, Allergy, and Immunology); and Carlos Javier Primicias Jr., a pediatrician.
Vaccinators were City Health Officer Dr. Edwin Miraflor, Dr. Rosalie Deocampo, Dr. Claire Capiral, Dr. Grace Tan, Dr. Nica Locsin, and Ben Arnel dela Cruz of the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 (Western Visayas).
