With 30,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines and 27,000 doses of CoronaVac now in Central Visayas, the Department of Health-7 said Thursday all the region’s healthcare workers (HCWs) will soon be protected against coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, DOH-7 chief pathologist and spokesperson on Covid-19, said there is a total of 58,000 HCWs in the region.

She added that as of Tuesday, a total of 4,032 medical front-liners, including 2,280 HCWs at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) have been vaccinated.

The British-made AstraZeneca vaccines arrived at the Mactan Cebu International Airport on board Philippine Airlines Flight PR 1845 from Manila on March 10.

These are in addition to the vaccines developed by Beijing-based biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech Ltd. that arrived here last week.

Loreche said all the vaccines available “should be enough for all healthcare workers” in the region.

“These will cover all other HCWs in hospitals, city health, rural health units, (and) operations centers,” she said, clarifying that senior healthcare workers will just be part of those sectors that are qualified to receive the jabs.

She said senior citizens with comorbidities will be next in line to receive the vaccines.

Loreche also reported that the vaccination rollout in different government and private hospitals in Cebu has been going on smoothly as planned.

Only 85 of the more than 4,000 inoculated front-liners reported minor adverse reactions, mostly complaints of pain on the injection site. (PNA)