Mayor Edwin “EdSa” Santiago expressed his gratitude to the national government for including the province of Pampanga in the priority list of its vaccination rollout program.

“Ang siyudad po ay natutuwa at nagpapasalamat dahil, sa buong probinsya, mga healthcare workers dito sa ospital ng San Fernando ang mga unang nakatanggap ng bakuna. Bigyan po natin ng tiwala ang bakuna at ang pamahalaan po natin na ginagawa ang lahat para bigyan tayo ng panlaban sa sakit,” the local chief executive remarked.

The Central Luzon Center for Health Development (CLCHD) allocated more than 4,000 Sinovac vaccines for the healthcare community in the province and JBL as the priority hospital.

“Sa ngayon ang na-receive namin ay 846 vials last Saturday and we will be receiving the 3,274 additional vaccines maybe by tomorrow or next day. Bale, not less than 4,000 po yung naka-allocate sa atin. So, we hope to inoculate at least mga 30% ng healthcare workers sa buong province depending sa allocation,” explained Dr. Montserrat S. Chichioco, JBLMGH chief.

Chichioco was the first healthcare worker to be inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine.

“Hindi po siya masakit at mapanganib tulad ng sabi-sabi. Ang importante lang po sa bakuna ay kaalaman at huwag maniwala sa sabi-sabi lang. We base it on Science. Huwag matakot sa bakuna dahil lahat po ng bakuna iisa lang ang goal nyan—ang-ma prevent ang pag-spread ng infection, ma-prevent po yung severe infection and of course ma-prevent po yung death,” Chichioco said.

Santiago also assured Fernandinos that the vaccine will be administered to the priority groups—healthcare workers and front liners first, then senior citizens, down to the general population.

The local government already realigned its COVID-19 Local Task Force and its responsibilities to focus on the rollout of the vaccination program. The LGU started its COVID-19 vaccination survey thru paper-and-pen and online procedures with the use of QR Code and Electronic Immunization Registry.

It is currently in talks with pharmaceutical companies for the preparation and purchase of vaccines.

The vaccine rollout was part of the massive campaign of the Department of Health dubbed as ‘Resbakuna: Kasangga ng Bida’ which kicked off on March 01, 2021, with the first vaccine dose administered in the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

The national government targets to vaccinate 70 million Filipinos by the end of the year following the prioritization framework.