DUMAGUETE CITY – The province of Negros Oriental on Friday received its first batch of Pfizer BioNTech vaccines for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) from the national government.
Gov. Roel Degamo, Dr. Socrates Villamor, provincial chief of the Department of Health; and Dr. Liland Estacion, assistant provincial health officer, received the 195 vials which arrived at the Dumaguete-Sibulan airport, a media release from the Capitol said.
The delivery is the initial Pfizer allocation from the National Vaccination Operations Center and is good for 1,117 doses (one vial is equivalent to six doses) and will all be given as the first dose to individuals included on the master lists under priority sectors A1, A2, and A3.
Degamo had earlier requested the vaccines from vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez amid a surge of cases in the previous weeks that had resulted in the declaration of Negros Oriental under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
It was not immediately known if the classification, which President Rodrigo Duterte declared effective June 16-30, will be lifted or extended, Estacion said in a virtual presser Thursday afternoon.
Everything will depend on the recommendation of the national Inter-Agency Task Force, and right now, even though Covid-19 cases appear to be on a plateau, that is just one of the many considerations to determine a quarantine classification, she added
Source: Philippines News Agency
