Lanao del Sur, Marawi health workers, senior citizens get second vaccine shots
HEALTH • 12:45 PM Mon Apr 19, 2021
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By:
John M. Unson
Health workers and senior citizens in Marawi and Lanao del Sur got their second dose of Sinovac last week.
MARAWI CITY --- Health workers shall administer COVID-19 jabs to hundreds of Islamic preachers and prospective pilgrims to Saudia Arabia during a three-day day vaccination program starting today, April 19.
A big number of senior citizens and health workers in Marawi City and from nearby towns got a second dose of Sinovac during a three-day vaccination drive last week facilitated by the Integrated Provincial Health Office-Lanao del Sur, the Bangsamoro health ministry and the office of Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Jr.
The three-day anti-coronavirus inoculation event was supervised by physician Allen Minalang with the help of Health Minister Bashary Latiph of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The Lanao del Sur-IPHO just got more than 5,000 doses of Sinovac for Islamic preachers and Muslims slated to perform the hajj (pilgrimage) to Makkah, Saudi Arabia after the Ramadhan fasting season that started on April 13.
Latiph, a doctor of medicine, appealed on Monday to residents of the Bangsamoro region to ignore “fake news” spreading around and the misleading assertions by irresponsible Facebook users that COVID-19 vaccines can do more harm than good.
“We have to listen only to medical practitioners, particularly those in the Department of Health, the MOH-BARMM and the Integrated Provincial Health Office in each of the five BARMM provinces,” Latiph said.
Minalang and Adiong have separately called on religious leaders and those who intend to perform the hajj in Saudi Arabia to have anti-COVID-19 jabs.
Adiong, as governor, is chairperson of the Lanao del Sur provincial disaster risk reduction and management council.
Minalang told reporters Monday their vaccine rollouts that commenced last March went on smoothly with the support of the PDRRMC and the MOH-BARMM.
Minalang said they are expecting the cooperation of the religious leaders in Marawi City and in Lanao del Sur with their April 19-21 vaccination campaign for constituents slated to leave the country for the pilgrimage.