Senator Cynthia Villar on Tuesday, March 9 appealed to health workers and residents of her home city Las Piñas to avail of the free vaccinations from the government against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Last Thursday, March 4, the city started immunizations using the vaccines from Sinovac Biotech, which were donated by China to the Philippines.
"I am happy that we already started giving the COVID-19 vaccines in Las Piñas. We hope all medical frontliners and residents will grab the opportunity to be vaccinated, so they will be protected against the virus," Villar said in her statement.
She said she hopes that the vaccine rollout will run smoothly as she told Las Piñas residents to "cooperate with the city government and health officials who are only thinking of their protection, safety and welfare."
With the assurance of the government officials on its safety and effectiveness, Villar said she is confident that healthcare workers and several individuals would be inoculated, regardless of the vaccine brand.
She reiterated that the COVID-19 shots will help the country move forward and recover from economic slump caused the pandemic.
"At present, this is our best defense against the virus," she said.
She likewise cited the government's efforts to ramp up vaccine confidence and overcome vaccine hesistancy.
To ease fears of the COVID-19 vaccines, executives of the Las Piñas General Hospital and Satellite Tauma Center (LPGHSTC) and some government officials got the first jabs of the vaccines.
LPGHSTC General Director Dr. Rodrigo Hao was among first to get the COVIID-19 jab in the city. Some 300 frontliners already got their first dose of the China-made Sinovac vaccine, Villar said.
Another 300 doses of Sinovac, which arrived last Sunday (March 7), will be administered to another batch of medical frontliners.
The Las Piñas City government is also awaiting the arrival of its allocation of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX Facility and the 300,000 doses directly procured by the city from the British drugmaker.
The local government also secured 200,000 vaccine doses from Novavax, Villar said.