27 medical frontliners get 2nd dose of Sinovac vaccine

A TOTAL of 27 medical frontliners in Bacolod City received their second doses of Sinovac's vaccine against coronavirus disease (Covd-19) at the Bacolod Government Center Monday, April 5.

Dr. Edwin Miraflor, officer-in-charge of City Health Office (CHO), said that about 28 medical frontliners were on their list to receive Covid-19 vaccine Monday, but one of them failed to attend due to work.

"The 27 medical frontliners have received their first doses of Sinovac in March and they should receive their second doses of vaccine after 28 days or four weeks," he said.

He said of the number, 20 were doctors and seven others were nurses from various hospitals in the city.

Miraflor said they will finish the inoculation of the second doses of Sinovac vaccine within this week and they will start the vaccination of the second doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in May.

Bacolod City earlier vaccinated about 5,400 medical frontliners with the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines against Covid-19. After the vaccination, some of the medical frontliners experienced minor adverse effects such as localized rashes, which were resolved after 15 minutes, and some experienced high blood pressure due to excitement after the vaccination.

"If you have received the vaccine, it's not an assurance that you will not be having Covid anymore. The purpose of the vaccine is to prevent complications and serious infection arising from Covid," Miraflor said.

After the vaccination, he said few healthcare workers tested positive for the virus.

For her part, Dr. Dolores Rommela Tiples-Ruiz, infectious diseases specialist and president of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases-Negros Occidental Chapter, who received the second dose of Sinovac vaccine, said that she is fine after the vaccination and she urged the public to avail themselves of the Covid-19 vaccine.

"If it's your time to get your vaccine, you have to get it because it's something that will protect you. You have to do this because we are in short of the vaccine and time is an essence," she said.