All Bohol towns to get share of single-shot J&J jabs

U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires John Law joins Philippine Secretary of Health Francisco Duque III (left photo) and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin Jr. (right photo) and other officials to welcome the U.S. government’s delivery of over 3.2 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines to the country. | via US EMBASSY

All 47 towns of Bohol and Tagbilaran City have been allocated jabs developed by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) after the province received on Monday 50,000 doses of the vaccines developed by the United States-based pharmaceutical, the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) said.

According to BIATF spokesperson Dr. Yul Lopez, the deployment of the vaccines will be done as part of the highlight activities of the Bohol Day which is celebrated every July 22.

The vaccines starting Thursday will be handed over to local government units including Tagbilaran City, Valencia, Inabanga and Talibon which were the first to signify that their vaccinating teams were ready to conduct the inoculations.

“Mao kuno ila solidarity activity to commemorate Bohol day 2021. At the same time, moapas pod ang tanan lungsod either ugma sa hapon og sa Biernes-Sabado,” Lopez said.

The one-dose jabs will be used to inoculate senior citizens and persons with comorbidities.

Seamen and overseas Filipino workers who are set to return abroad for work will also be prioritized.

Lopez called on interested vaccine recipients to coordinate with their LGUs and Rural Health Units to have themselves listed for the inoculation drive.

Earlier, Governor Art Yap claimed that he “finalized the details on the arrival of the vaccines” with Tourism Sec. Bernadette Romulo-Puyat and vaccine czar Sec. Clarito Galvez.

Other localities in Central Visayas were also allocated doses of the Janssen vaccine.

According to Department of Health 7 vaccine operations spokesperson Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, Metro Cebu received 96,450 doses of the vaccine.

In a statement, Negros Oriental Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion, disclosed that they received around 33,350 doses of the vaccine brand.

“Said vaccine can also be stored like Sinovac and are for the A1, A2 and A3 or A4 with comorbidity priority groups,” she said.

The Janssen vaccines for Central Visayas were part of the 3.2 million doses donated by the United States government to the Philippines through the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility.

The jabs arrived in Manila in two batches on July 16 and 17.

Based on data from the Provincial Health Office, 34,620 individuals in Bohol have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, some 77,312 others have received their first dose.

According to the same data, Bohol has received a total of 145,312 COVID-19 vaccines through the national government. (R. Tutas)