San Pablo, Laguna only administering 2nd vaccine doses amid supply crunch

With the Laguna Provincial Hospital's ultra-low-temperature storages empty of Pfizer vaccines and its regular freezers containing only a few AstraZeneca doses, the city of San Pablo, Laguna has only been administering second COVID-19 vaccine jabs this month.

In Ian Cruz's report on "24 Oras" on Wednesday, the San Pablo LGU said that it has only been scheduling second vaccine doses throughout September as it awaits a new supply of vaccines.

"Ngayong buwan na ito, wala kaming nabakunahan ng first dose, puro second dose ngayong September. May allotment na 'yun from the first dose," said Laguna Provincial Hospital medical director Dr. Edgar Palacol.

According to the Department of Health on Tuesday, San Pablo is 17th on the list of local governments with the highest COVID-19 cases nationwide. 

The San Pablo district hospital's regular wards and ICU have long been full, with many more patients in isolation waiting to be admitted.

"[Sa mga] regular patient na hindi naman kailangan ng ICU, usually mga 20 pateints ang naka waiting list. Sa ICU naman, ang patients na critical o severe patients, usually mga 10 or 15 ang naka waiting list every day," said Palacol.

San Pablo needs to vaccinate 217,000 residents out of its population of 322,000 to achieve herd immunity. Currently, 102,448 have received a first dose, and only 84,447 are fully vaccinated, according to the city's health information center.

The city hopes to resume its first-dose inoculations on Thursday with the expected arrival of Pfizer and Sinovac shots.

The Philippines currently has 2,417,419 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 37,228 deaths and 162,580 active cases. — BM, GMA News