BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The outcome of its utilization on the first rollout on July 26 in the different local government units in the province apparently showed that there is a great demand for the single-dose Janssen vaccines in Negros Occidental.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz reported yesterday a 93.47 percent utilization of Janssen vaccines manufactured by the Johnson and Johnson’s pharmaceutical firm, with 2,303 of the 2,464 vials already utilized.
The Janssen vaccines have been earmarked for the inoculation of senior citizens throughout the province, Diaz said.
He lauded the vaccination performance of LGUs, that had vaccinated about 10,000 people a day.
He said more than 200,000 Negrenses have been inoculated with Sinovac, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines, of the 1.4 million they are targeting for vaccination to achieve herd immunity.
The provincial government set aside 700 doses of AstraZeneca for the inoculation of economic frontliners belonging to the A4 category on July 28 at the Negros Residences, and 1,450 more Tuesday next week.
The AstraZeneca vaccines for those in the A4 category had been purchased by the provincial government of Negros Occidental.
Diaz said they are expecting the arrival of 4,000 more doses of AstraZeneca vaccines they bought through a tri-partite agreement with the Department of Health and the pharmaceutical company.
The AstraZeneca vaccines from the national government will be used as second dose by the second week of August, he added.
Diaz also said he noted a downtrend in the number of Covid-19 active cases, at more than 1,500, as of July 26, compared to 2,400 in previous weeks, and the reduction in occupants in quarantine facilities, especially at the Mambukal Mountain Resort in Murcia.
He said that “we are now more resistant to the virus.”*
