BRAVEHEARTED DOCTORS WALK THEIR TALK AND CARVE A PAGE IN HISTORY. Definitely, three bravehearted doctors are walking their talk as they show courage in carving a page in the history of vaccination in Bohol by getting themselves inoculated with the Coronavirus disease (Covid) vaccine after the jabs finally arrived in Bohol. These modern day heroes who are among the FIRST to wage war against the invisible enemy through vaccination are (from left): Dr. Lawrence Elliot Tirol (seated, looking at Cong. Edgar Chatto), Dr. Kazan Benigno Baluyot (pressing his upper arm after the injection), and Dr. Maribeth Jimenez (undergoing the vaccination). They are few of the medical frontliners who dared to get vaccinated. On Friday, March 5, 2021, around 2, 860 doses of Sinovac vaccines arrived in Bohol, according to Dr. Mutya Kismet Macuno. Photos courtesy of Mary Rose Labadia Batoy of the Ramiro Community Hospital (RCH).
Finally, the first batch of Coronavirus disease (Covid) vaccines arrived in Bohol and the healthcare workers of the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital (GCGMH) are the ones getting the first jabs from the national government.
In a ceremony on Saturday, March 6, 2021, the first five Boholanos were inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine.
The first five Boholanos who received the Covid vaccines were Dr. Lawrence Elliot Tirol, head of Strategic Management; Cyd Charm Castillo, head of the GCGMH Finance Office; Dr. Ellan Lyll Salada, infectious disease specialist; Flor Anabelle Cesar, chief administrative officer; and Mary Grace Gallito, asst. chief nurse.
The five GCGMH personnel who got vaccinated for the first dose of the Sinovac-made vaccine became the highlight of the ceremonies that took place at the hospital grounds on Saturday, March 6, 2021.
Gov. Arthur Yap and first district Rep. Edgar Chatto graced the occasion and delivered their respective speeches reverberating their thoughts about the significant occasion Bohol’s health and wellness status.
In his speech, Yap went on a trip down memory lane and recalled the events during the early days of the lockdowns with stricter community quarantine levels imposed in Bohol.
The governor said he describes 2020 as a “miraculous” year for Bohol.
“Despite one of the country’s top tourist destinations, despite one of the first places in the Philippines in February last year with a Covid-infected patient, in the last 12 months, while other places in the country have soaring numbers of cases, even NCR today battles continuing increases in infections and even in nearby Cebu, Bohol today with 1.5 million residents is only registering no more than 1,050 total infected patients in the entire year [of 2020],” he said.
He also emphasized that Bohol proved in the past year that it can well manage the Covid situation here, with or without the vaccine.
“What we have shown, is that we have been able to survive, to live and to slowly reclaim our lives in this pandemic,” the governor quipped.
The governor told the public that the vaccine is not a guarantee that one can no longer get infected with Covid.
On the other hand, Chatto in his speech said that Bohol is heavily affected by the pandemic and the vaccine can help Boholanos return to normalcy.
“Needless to say, Bohol has been heavily affected; and its economy has been heavily affected; but we need to return to normalcy and the vaccine will be a very big factor,” Chatto stressed in his address.
For her part, Dr. Mutya Kismet Macuno, medical center chief of the GCGMH, said she feels elated about the arrival of the vaccines. She said that almost all personnel of the GCGMH agreed to be inoculated with the vaccine.
“Dako kaayo akong kalipay, ug dako kaayo akong paglaum tungod kay nia na gayud ang atong gipaabot nga vaccine. Dire sa Gallares Hospital we have a total of 1,078 staff, and we have 93.7% acceptance. Mipirma na ang 1,002 ka mga katawhan nga magpabakuna. Mao ni ang kinatas-an nga acceptance [rate] sa tibuok Region 7,” Macuno told reporters in an impromptu interview right after the ceremonies.
In her speech, Macuno said, “Dili matataw ang dako kaayong pasalamat [ngadto] sa atong Kahitas-an nga tiaw mo bay 2 days after nga nagsugod ug bakuna didto sa Manila hingkalit lang ta dawat sa balita nga niabot na ang vaccine gahapon [Friday].”
She thought that the vaccine supply for GCGMH will arrive next week. She added that the arrival of the vaccines proves how God loves Bohol.
Macuno on Friday, during the weekly regular virtual press conference reported that Sinovac vaccines arrived in Bohol on Friday afternoon from Cebu City.
Macuno revealed that the government allocated vaccines for personnel of the Covid-designated Level 3 hospital. She also said that next in line are the Level 2 hospitals and then the infirmaries in the region.
Earlier, the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Visayas (OPAV) announced on Thursday that 8,440 doses of the Sinovac vaccine are on their way to Bohol, and delivered to the GCGMH.
Macuno confirmed that 2,860 doses arrived in Bohol from Cebu City, which is enough to cover the entire staff of GCGMH.
The supply given to Bohol is part of the vaccine stock donated by the Chinese government. On Feb. 28, 2021, around 600,000 doses of the China-made Coronavac vaccine manufactured by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac, arrived in Bohol.
The Philippines also received 487,200 doses of the vaccine manufactured by British drug maker AstraZenica and Oxford University on Thursday, Mar. 4, 2021. Meanwhile, around 38,400 doses of the AstraZenica vaccine is slated to arrive in the country Sunday night, according to vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez.
In a related development, Macuno said that once the Sinovac vaccine is fully utilized, the vaccine made by AstraZenica will be next to be deployed.
She added that all hospitals in the province will be given vaccine allocations by the Department of Health (DOH).