Majority of the medical frontliners in a public hospital in Binangonan who were inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine preferred the European-made AstraZeneca vaccine versus China’s Sinovac.
Dr. Esterio Ibe Jr., medical officer at the Margarito A. Duavit Memorial Hospital or Rizal Provincial Hospital System (RPHS) Binangonan Annex, said out of the more than 100 who were lined up during the first batch of the inoculation, only seven chose the Sinovac vaccine as against the European-made AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Rizal Provincial government said 133 vaccines were allocated by the Department of Health for the initial vaccine rollout at the RPHS Binangonan Annex on March 12. The vaccination will be done for two days.
During the rollout vaccination, Erica Faye Sison, a nurse at the OB ward of the public hospital in Binangonan was among the six medical frontliners who opted to get inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine.
“Dahil mas marami ang nagsasabi na wala namang masamang epekto sa katawan ang Sinovac kung ikukumpara sa ibang mga bakuna, kaya ito ang napili kong ibakuna sa akin (Because there are many who have claimed that there were no adverse effect of Sinovac in their body as compared with other vaccines, so I chose this vaccine),” Sison told Manila Bulletin.
Sison said she did not feel any adverse effect of the vaccine on her body from the moment she got inoculated and even after a few minutes.
She and her co-medical workers who chose Sinovac grouped themselves together to boost each other’s confidence during the March 12 vaccination.
Jake Sumagui, a liaison officer, who is a medical frontliner at the RPHS Binangonan Annex was among the first 60 frontliners who received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Sumagui said he did not feel any negative effect before and after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Rizal Governor Rebecca “Nini” Ynares enjoined all medical frontliners, particularly those from the nine RPHS who are under the management of the provincial government, as well as all public officials in the province to be role models by getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Dr. Angel Daquigan Jr., department head of the RPHS was the first medical frontliner who got inoculated during the first provincial vaccination rollout.
The second batch of vaccination will be done on Monday (March 15) at the RPHS Binangonan.