PNP vaccination resumes with AstraZeneca jabs

MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) has acquired additional doses of the CoronaVac and AstraZeneca vaccines to inoculate its medical front-liners, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, deputy chief for administration, said Sunday.

Eleazar, also commander of the PNP-Administrative Support on Covid-19 Task Force (ASCOTF), said more personnel will be inoculated Monday after they secured 700 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.

“We will prioritize the remaining healthcare workers, including the non-medical staff of our hospital and isolation facilities in the National Capital Region due to the limited initial allocation,” he said.

Eleazar is currently officer-in-charge as PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas is on 14-day quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19 on Thursday.

The PNP already secured the second doses for 1,196 PNP healthcare workers (HCWs) who received Sinovac on March 1 to 7 at Camp Crame. Of the first 1,200 doses, four were spoiled.

Based on PNP data, Sinovac jabs were also given to its HCWs outside Metro Manila. Their succeeding doses will come from Department of Health regional offices.

Unlike PNP uniformed personnel who are mandated to retire after reaching the age of 56, the retirement age of non-uniformed staff is 65.

“There are only a few of them in Metro Manila so we expect that there will be remaining AstraZeneca doses for the third priority, which are our healthcare workers, regardless of age, but with comorbidities. If there are still left, we will go to the fourth priority, the healthcare workers who were not vaccinated with Sinovac,” Eleazar said.

More than 80 percent of the 219,000-strong PNP are willing to be vaccinated, based on the latest survey by ASCOTF.

Eleazar stressed the importance of vaccination especially in the PNP since police personnel are on the frontline of the implementation of minimum health safety standard protocols. PNP medical health workers are those taking care of infected PNP personnel in hospitals and isolation facilities.

Based on the latest data of the PNP, a total of 12,162 PNP personnel have been infected since last year, with 11,280 surviving the disease. There are still 839 active cases as of March 13 and 14 new recoveries.

A total of 33 have died.

The latest Covid-19 fatality was a 54-year-old officer assigned at the National Capital Region Police Office. He died on March 12 due to acute respiratory failure secondary to pneumonia.