ILIGAN CITY (PIA)–The city government of Iligan commenced the inoculation of the second dose of Sinovac vaccines to its medical frontliners.
A total of 1,146 healthcare workers have covered in the three-day vaccination led by the Gregorio T. Lluch Memorial Hospital (GTLMH), the only public hospital in the city, and the Adventist Medical Center-Iligan and the Iligan Medical Center Hospital (IMCH), private hospitals which have catered COVID-19 confirmed patients.
“Today, nagsugod ang second dose of vaccination ug nalipay ko nga daghan nagparticipate ani nga event ug hinaot kami tanan mabakunahan within two days,” said GTLMH Chief Nurse Holden Ian Loking.
[Today, the second dose of vaccination started and I am happy that many participated in this event and I hope all of us will be vaccinated within two days.]
With the said plotted time for the second dose vaccination, GTLMH is set to give shots to 413 health workers while AMCI is expected to inoculate 432 medical personnel.
On the other hand, IMCH is anticipated to vaccinate a total of 301 medical frontliners from its hospital and three more private hospitals in the city. The said hospital will administer the jab for its 128 medical personnel while they also cater 73 health workers from Mercy Community Hospital, Inc. (MCHI) and 50 frontliners each coming from Dr. Uy Hospital, Inc. (DUHI) and St. Mary’s Maternity and Children’s Hospital Inc. (SMMCHI).
“So far, wala man tay problema sa pag-awhag sa mga healthworker para makabaton sa [we do not have problems in encouraging the health workers to take the] second dose because in the first place, ilahang [their] decision to take the first dose was already very good,” said Dr. Belinda Lim, health cluster manager of the Emergency Operations Center.
She then reiterated that the vaccines offered by the national government through the Department of Health are safe and secured as the negotiations for their procurement involved the manufacturers themselves.
Lim also bared that adverse events following immunization may have been noted but all of these were minimum and minor which makes her optimistic of the positive outcome of the vaccination program.
“Dako kaayo atong pagsalig nga [We greatly believe that] with the succeeding doses of vaccines, everything will be alright,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, hospital officials continue to urge medical frontliners to still take their second dose for the completion of their COVID-19 vaccine.
“Let us complete the second dose of our vaccination in as much as we have already received the first dose. This is one thing nga [that] will give us protection,” stated IMCH Medical Director Dr. Daniel Rigor.
They also called on the inoculated personnel and the rest of the population to still not be overly confident with the vaccines as these are just added protection against COVID-19.
“Dili gyud ni siya assurance ng dili naka mainfect sa COVID kay kabalo ta ga-mutate ang COVID-19 so dili ingon nga kung fully protected na ta, dili nata magwear og mask ug magobserve og social distancing. Padayon lang gihapon ta sa atong naandan and rest assured mapildi nato is COVID,” pronounced AMCI Vice President for Operations Nestor Molleda.
[This is not an assurance that you will not be infected already with COVID because we know that the COVID-19 is mutating so it does not mean that if we are already fully protected, we will not wear mask anymore and observe social distancing. Let us still continue what we are used to doing and rest assured we will defeat COVID.] (CRG/PIA-ICIC)
