Five health staff, including two doctors, at a vaccination center in Pateros tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), slowing down the rollout in the municipality.
Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce III said in a Facebook Live video on Friday that the municipal government decided to immediately close down the vaccination site at Pateros Catholic School on Thursday after swab tests of the five medical staff showed positive results.

(Pateros municipal government / MANILA BULLETIN)
He said two doctors at the site who were assigned to conduct health screening on people with comorbidities and three other staff were infected with COVID-19.
“We immediately closed it down to avoid transmission and it is currently being disinfected,” he said in Filipino.
The mayor said because of this, the number of health staff assigned for vaccination has decreased. He had earlier revealed that one nurse died of COVID-19.
This has further slowed down the vaccination rollout in Pateros as only one center, the AMC gym in Brgy. San Roque, will be used for now.
On Monday, inoculation of senior citizens and those with comorbidities will be done simultaneously at the gym.
“Please expect that our vaccination will further slow down because of what is happening,” he said. Two other vaccination sites are also being prepared: the Agripino Manalo National High School and Capt. Hipolito Francisco Elementary School. Ponce said Sinovac Life Science’s CoronaVac vaccine will now be used in Pateros as the supply from the national government of the AstraZeneca brand has almost run out. CoronaVac will be used in senior citizens after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Health (DOH) gave their go signal. He added that people can opt out of the vaccination if they do not want CoronaVac.
As of April 6, Pateros has 2,910 confirmed COVID-19 including 2,296 recoveries and 40 deaths, leaving 574 active cases.