A HEALTH official in Basilan province continually urged the public to get inoculated once the vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) will be made available to everybody.

Dr. Jackie Lou Eisma-Castillo, Lamitan District Hospital chief, reiterated her call, saying she felt no side effects of the vaccines against Covid-19.

Castillo, Basilan Provincial Health Officer Harrybert Hadjala, and other healthcare workers received their first vaccine shot during the ceremonial vaccination Monday, March 15.

“There’s no pain, and wala rin akong pangingilo. Wala rin akong shortness of breath, or tumaas ang blood pressure, or nasusuka, or masakit ang tiyan,” Castillo said.

“This vaccine will actually prevent the spread of infection, and this will actually protect ourselves, our family, our loved ones, and even our community,” Castillo added.

Dr. Abdul Halik Kasim, assistant secretary of the Ministry of Health in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said 238 Basilan healthcare workers, including Castillo and Hadjala, were among the first recipients of first shots of vaccine as the ministry rolled out the vaccination program Monday in the province.

Kasim said the recipients of the first dose of vaccines were healthcare workers from the Lamitan District Hospital, Dr. Jose Ma. Torres Memorial Hospital, Inc., also of Lamitan City, and Sumisip District Hospital.

He said the province of Basilan received 638 doses of Sinovac vaccines and 910 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.

Kasim said the 245 healthcare workers from six isolation and quarantine facilities and 1,297 healthcare workers from government-owned primary care-based facilities across the province of Basilan are the next groups to receive the vaccine shots. (SunStar Zamboanga)