More Boholanos have expressed interest in having themselves vaccinated against COVID-19 but the arrival of jabs in the province have been “slow,” said the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF).
“Problema na hinoon kay vaccine na pod hinay ang arrivals, daghan gusto na unta,” BIATF spokesperson and Provincial Health Office (PHO) officer-in-charge Dr. Yul Lopez said in a text message to the Chronicle on Tuesday.
According to Lopez, fear of getting vaccinated has subsided due to the information drive on the safety of inoculation against COVID-19.
“Namenos na [fear]…labi na kay daghan na testimony sa mga doctor/nurses/ frontliners nga safe ra ang bakuna,” Lopez said.
The vaccination of mayors have also raised public interest and confidence in getting vaccinated, he added.
Bohol’s vaccine inventory got a slight boost after 5,000 doses of Gamaleya Research Institute’s Sputnik V from Russia and 5,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac from China were flown to Bohol on Thursday.
However, these were primarily allocated for tourism workers as part of the Department of Tourism’s and provincial government’s efforts to resuscitate the province’s once-booming tourism industry.
The vaccination rollout in Bohol started in March as part of the national government’s nationwide inoculation campaign.
Based on data from the PHO, a total of 50,582 persons have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 21,864 individuals have been fully vaccinated as of June 16.
The same data indicated that 21,824 persons in the A1 sector (frontline health workers) have been fully vaccinated.
Most of those in the A2 (senior citizens) and A3 (persons with comorbidities) sectors only received the first dose of the vaccine with 18,370 and 2,770 already jabbed with their first shot, respectively.
Some 40 individuals in both sectors have received their second doses.
As of June 15, Bohol has received 113,124 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Bohol’s vaccine inventory from the national government comprise of jabs developed by Sinovac Biotech, Pfizer-BioNTech, Gamaleya Institute and AstraZeneca which all require two doses per person. (R. Tutas)