Additional 16,140 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine from the Department of Health (DOH) arrived in Bohol on Wednesday night, a Capitol official said.

The vaccines were delivered via a fast craft vessel from Cebu City to the port of Tubigon at 10:30 p.m., said Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) chief Anthony Damalerio who received the jabs on behalf go the provincial government.

According to Damalerio, 5,000 vaccines were allocated for the second shots of frontliners while the rest were earmarked for new recipients of the jabs.

“Tuani na ni tanan sa PHO (Provincial Health Office) cold storage facility unya ipahigayon nani sa grupo ni Dr. Yul Lopez ang paghatod sa mga kalungsuran,” he said.

Bohol has so far received 70,020 vaccine doses from the national government including the recent arrivals.

Damalerio said that the province is nearly done with the vaccination of medical frontliners and is set to start with the inoculation of senior citizens shortly after.

“Ang next few batches makahurot na, makatiwas na sa mga membro sa A1 category na naa sa masterlist nato, and the next batches makasugod na ta sa mga senior citizen,” he added.

In two weeks, more doses of the Sinovac vaccine are expected to be delivered to the province as noted by the Department of Health.

According to Damalerio, Central Visayas ranked fourth in terms of vaccines received from the national government.

Most of the vaccines have been distributed in the National Capital Region which is the hardest hit by the novel coronavirus. (R. Tutas)