BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
The vaccination roll-out in Bacolod continues with about 3,993 healthworkers, hospital staff members and other frontliners inoculated against Coronavirus 2019 disease in the city as of yesterday.
Of that number, 2,659 were vaccinated with the China-made Sinovac vaccines, while the rest got the British-Swedish AstraZeneca jabs, Dr. Chris Sorongon, deputy for data and medical analysis of the Emergency Operations Center of Bacolod said.
Sorongon said that the city received 4,700 doses of Sinovac vaccines, half of which was already utilized while the remaining half will be used as second dose. He said the city received an additional 8,400 doses for the second batch and 3,590 have been utilized so far.
Sorongon also said that the city still has 1,777 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines out of the 3,120 doses donated, adding that, they hope to finish the inoculations of all the hospital frontliners and other health workers soon.
Meanwhile, the Department of Interior and Local Government ordered Local Government Units to stop using their own contact-tracing apps and instead use the StaySafe.PH.
DILG Undersecretary and Spokesperson Jonathan Mayala said that StaySafe.PH is the official digital contact tracing system of the national government which the LGUs could use for free.
Malaya added that if the LGUs want to use their own tracking systems, they should ensure that it is integrated with the StaySafe.PH app as this is required under the rules of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Sorongon said, the EOC has not received any order yet from the DILG regarding the use of the local contact tracing application which means that the city’s baCTrak system will still be required.
Beginning this month, the EOC mandated the strict compliance with the use of the baCTrak system in all establishments in Bacolod.
As of March 8, 467,075 individuals and 8,922 establishments have been registered in the baCTrak system.*
