NMMC to receive 1,820 Coronavac vaccines

ABOUT 1,820 doses of the Coronavac vaccine made by the Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac will be allocated to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), a top hospital official confirmed today.

“About 1,400 out of the 1,700 employees of NMMC have signified their willingness to be vaccinated. The others who are unwilling to be vaccinated yet, the remaining vials will be given to the health care workers assigned in the temporary treatment monitoring facilities, specifically the TTMF at a downtown hotel (in Cagayan de Oro City),” NMMC liaison officer Dr. Bernard Julius Rocha said.

During Wednesday noon’s City Hall press briefing, Dr. Rocha said the other remaining vials of the Coronavac vaccine will be distributed to the other health care workers listed in the Covid-19 Electronic Immunization Registry.

“Our target is the 100 percent immunization of NMMC’s employees. And yes, the NMMC employees who agreed to be vaccinated are aware (that Coronavac will be used on them),” he said.

City Health Officer Dr. Lorraine Nery said the NMMC vaccination is an indicator that the country’s vaccination program is picking up steam and that the City Health Office (CHO) is coordinating with JR Borja General Hospital and the city’s private and public hospitals to keep pace with the rollout.

“We are preparing for the allocation of the vaccines (for our health care frontliners),” she said.

For his part, Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno, who will keynote the NMMC’s vaccination program scheduled on Friday this week, was upbeat over this development.

“We know that the vaccination rollout will be a Herculean task and it will not be easy. That’s why we’ll do our best to make it as efficient as possible in order to avoid inconveniencing our people,” Moreno said. (Stephen Capillas of the City Information Office)