THE province of Negros Oriental received last June 25 its first batch of Pfizer BioNTech vaccines for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) from the National Government.

Governor Roel Degamo, Department of Health Provincial Chief Dr. Socrates Villamor, and Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion received the 195 vials, which arrived at the Dumaguete-Sibulan airport.

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). The vaccines will all be given as 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 Secretary Carlito Galvez amid a surge of Covid-19 cases in the previous weeks that resulted in the declaration of modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in Negros Oriental.

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.

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. (PNA)