THE Department of Health (DOH)-Northern Mindanao has allocated 15 vials or 150 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to the JR Borja General Hospital, according to Acting City Health Officer Dr. Lorraine Nery.
Nery said the JR Borja General Hospital has started the vaccination of frontline healthcare workers of the hospital using the AstraZeneca vaccine Thursday afternoon, March 11.
The vaccination process for Sinovac and AstraZeneca are the same, but the interval between two doses of vaccines differs.
According to Nery, the interval between two doses of Sinovac vaccine is at four weeks, while AstraZeneca is at eight weeks.
"Mao na siya nga kailangan gyud ma-account carefully kung kinsa ang natagaan sa Sinovac, kinsa sa AstraZeneca kay lahi-lahi ang interval nila sa pag administer," Nery said.
Prior to the vaccination rollout for AstraZeneca, implementor of the AstraZeneca vaccines from different hospitals underwent an orientation on Thursday morning on the administration of the said vaccine.
"[DOH said] they will not allot sa katong atong mga hospitals unless naka-attend atong orientation," Nery said.
Meanwhile, in regards to the time and motion of the vaccination rollout at the JR Borja General Hospital, Nery said the hospital was able to vaccinate 30 frontline healthcare workers less than an hour, faster than their target of 30 individuals an hour.
As of Thursday, March 11, 497 frontline healthcare workers of JR Borja General Hospital got their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine (Sinovac: 347 and AstraZeneca: 150), almost achieving the 50 percent of their target population.