A TOTAL of 2,450 medical frontliners in Bacolod City already received their second doses of Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines against coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Dr. Chris Sorongon, deputy for medical data and analysis of Emergency Operations Task Force (EOC-TF), said Tuesday, April 20, that as of April 18, a total of 6,460 medical frontliners in Bacolod City were inoculated with Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines.

Of the number, 2,450 already received their second doses of Covid-19 vaccine since last two weeks ago.

Sorongon said they still have a remaining of about 4,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines that will be used for the medical frontliners who are part of the Priority Group "A1."

He said the 4,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines can be used to almost 2,000 individuals.

"Once we accommodated all the medical frontliners in the city, we are studying to use the remaining vaccines to the Priority Group A2 and A3 that include the senior citizens," he added.

On Saturday, April 17, Mayor Evelio Leonardia was also inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine at the Bacolod Government Center.

The national Covid-19 vaccination operations center earlier issued Advisory 26 dated April 5, 2021, on the vaccination of the local chief executives (LCEs) in critical and high-risk provinces, cities and municipalities.

The advisory said if a locality becomes high or critical risk as determined by the Department of Health (DOH), the LCEs of the said locality shall be qualified for inoculation with Covid-19 vaccines.

Based on the list, Bacolod City is one of the highly urbanized cities (HUCs) considered as critical and high-risk areas.

Sorongon said the vaccination of Leonardia is a big help to encourage the Bacolodnons to join the vaccination program against Covid-19.

"Being the father of the city, it will boost the confidence and acceptability of our vaccines, especially the senior citizens," he said.

He added the 650,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines of the city's purchase agreement with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company are expected to arrive in July or August this year.