AT least 1,770 private health professionals, contract tracers, barangay healthcare workers and other frontliners in Quezon City have already received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines.
Mayor Joy Belmonte said those who were inoculated with CoronaVac and AstraZeneca vaccines are members of the QC Epidemiology and Surveillance Disease Unit (CESU), Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTS), and select personnel of the QC Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO). The national government donated the two vaccines to the city government.
“To get our frontliners vaccinated is an achievement since this will provide them protection especially in the performance of their duties. It is our responsibility to make sure that all of our healthcare workers including our support teams are safe from the virus,” Belmonte said.
More than 6,000 frontliners including health care workers in public and private clinics, diagnostic laboratories, and also home-for-the-aged and rehabilitation centers in the city are being targeted to be vaccinated.
CESU Head Dr. Rolly Cruz, who has also been vaccinated, said this vaccination to frontliners has boosted team morale and performance.
“We are slowly gaining momentum in the vaccination of our team. As the head of CESU, I am more than glad and relieved because our team will be protected. We can avoid serious complications from the disease,” Dr. Cruz said.
Meanwhile, QC Task Force Vax to Normal Co-chair Joseph Juico disclosed that all employees and healthcare workers who were part of the master list of the three local government hospitals have received their first dose of the CoronaVac and AstraZeneca.
“The vaccines of our hospital workers were timely as they face yet another surge in the number of cases. This is why it is important to have our medical workers vaccinated because they are continuously exposed to the risk of infection,” Juico said.
As of March 18, 1,100 healthcare workers have been inoculated at the QC General Hospital, 488 in the Novaliches District Hospital, and 360 in the Rosario Maclang Bautista General Hospital. Also, 8 Level-1 hospitals and 11 Level-2 hospitals, both public and private, have received their first doses of vaccines reaching a total of 6,159 healthcare workers.
As the city awaits its order of AstraZeneca and other vaccine donations, the QC government is fully preparing its vaccination sites and is in close coordination with other vaccine manufacturers for additional supplies.
