Bohol is set to receive around 11, 700 doses of the vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech, according to Department of Health (DOH) Central Visayas spokesperson Dr. Mary Jean Lorreche.
This comes as the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Provincial Health Office (PHO) Cesar Tomas Lopez confirmed that Bohol will be getting a share of the supply of the said vaccine during the weekly press conference at the Capitol on June 11, 2021.
Lorreche confirmed to The Bohol Tribune via a text message on Friday afternoon, that aside from Cebu, Bohol is the only other province in Central Visayas getting the said vaccine brand.
She said that the vaccines will be brought into the province via special shipping boxes and will be stored in the special refrigerator at the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital (GCGMH). The Pfizer-made vaccine needs to be stored in an ultra-low cold storage capable of maintaining a temperature of at least -70 degrees Celsius.
During the press conference, Lopez said that 3/4 of the supply of the vaccine made by Pfizer will be given to the province and 1/4 of the supply will be provided to the City of Tagbilaran.
For his part, Tagbilaran mayor John Geesnell Yap said the city health authorities are ready to accept any brand of vaccines . The city government has its own cold storage facility capable of storing vaccine brands like Pfizer and even Moderna.
Loreche said that DOH regional director Jaime Bernadas and Mel Feliciano, chief implementer of the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) vaccination team in the Visayas decided to spare some Pfizer vaccine supply to the province.
Negros Oriental and Siquijor will not get the Pfizer vaccine due to lack of cold storage facilities, Lorreche said.
It was reported that the Presidential Adviser for the Visayas Michael Dino said that around 210,600 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport on Thursday, June 10, 2021.
Reports coming from national media outlets reveal that the country received 2.2 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the Covax facility of the World Health Organization (WHO).