The vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca has produced fewer side effects in people whose ages are 56 years old and over than in younger people. Justin Tallis/AFP
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) on Monday, March 8, has announced that the region is expected to receive 20,000 doses of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.
Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, DOH-7 spokesperson, confirmed to reporters in a virtual press conference that the national government would be allocating shares of the over 500,000 AstraZeneca vaccines shipped from the COVAX facility to Central Visayas.
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“We have been informed that we will be receiving 20,000 doses of AstraZeneca,” said Loreche in a mix of Cebuano and English.
This will be the second brand of COVID-19 vaccines to arrive in Cebu.
Loreche said AstraZeneca vaccines would be primarily allocated for medical workers, whose ages are 60 years old and above.
“These will be prioritized for our senior medical frontliners, age 60 years old and above, who were not qualified to receive Sinovac,” she said.
However, the DOH-7 official said they were still waiting for further information from the national government as to when the vials from AstraZeneca would arrive.
“Initially, we were told between today (March 8) and tomorrow (March 9). But we’re still awaiting more definitive details,” said Loreche.
Last March 2, Cebu received its first shipment of CoronaVac, Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccines, amounting to 7,200 vials.
These were solely intended for frontliners working at Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), the region’s largest COVID-19-referral hospital.
Another 17,480 more from Sinovac also arrived last March 5, which were delivered to various parts in Central Visayas, including Cebu island.
Cebu is part of the national government’s priority areas in its COVID-19 vaccination drive.
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