The province of Negros Oriental received Monday its first batch of CoronaVac vaccines for the government’s massive inoculation campaign against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

The vaccines, packed in nine boxes of different sizes, arrived on board a Philippine Airlines flight from Manila at the Dumaguete-Sibulan airport.

Assistant Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Liland Estacion, and Dr. Socrates Villamor, provincial chief of the Department of Health, led the team that received the vaccines.

An inventory has yet to be done to determine the exact number of vaccines that arrived, but Villamor said it is estimated between 5,000 to 6,000 doses.

A meat freezer van transported the vaccines to the cold storage area of the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital pending inventory and arrangements.

Reports said Silliman University Medical Center, a private hospital, will get the first batch of vaccines.

Villamor told reporters in an interview at the airport that an estimated 1,000 or more health workers have signed up for the vaccination. (PNA)