TACLOBAN CITY – Ormoc City has been picked by the Department of Health (DOH) as the pilot recipient for the initial Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines shipment in Eastern Visayas, the city government announced late Monday.
The DOH regional office here received the vaccines at the Tacloban Airport early Tuesday, June 22 and were transported to Ormoc local storage facility the same day.
Based on the DOH report, the box contains 195 vials of the vaccine brand, with each vial good for six doses.
Citing the city’s vaccination rollout that reached the village level, Mayor Richard Gomez said they have been chosen by the health department for the inoculation of the US-made vaccine.
“DOH commended the local government unit of Ormoc for its well-thought-out plans and for being aggressive in bringing the vaccines and its vaccination program to the barangay level,” the mayor said in a social media post.
Pilot inoculation will take place on June 23 at the Ormoc City Superdome.
The first dose of vaccines will be administered to 1,170 pre-listed recipients from the master list. They are workers in frontline health services, elderlies, and persons with comorbidities.
There will be no walk-ins on the said date. Only those who have been pre-listed and have received a text from the city health department will be inoculated, according to the city government.
Ormoc City, with a population of over 215,000, has already administered 14,994 doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of June 19.
About 12,062 residents received the first dose while 2,932 got the second dose. The city is a major commercial hub in the northwestern part of Leyte province.