As a utility worker, Charlie Pacura said he goes out of his house five days a week to report for work which also requires him to do errands outside his workplace.

“I need the vaccine to protect myself from COVID 19 because I am exposed to different people almost everyday from the moment I ride the jeepney from home, then at my workplace and the places I go to like to pay bills and other errands. I am thankful for this as this is for the safety of my children and my senior citizen mother,” said Pacura in Hiligaynon, whose wife works as a household service worker in Qatar.

At first, he was apprehensive to be vaccinated for his fear of injection and this manifested during the actual inoculation when his blood pressure elevated and was advised to take a rest for 30 minutes at the vaccination center on July 7.

Another hesitant staff to get the COVID 19 vaccine was Edson Banares, Supply Officer, because of his co-morbid situation. He has hypertension and diabetes.

“I was hesitant because I was worried about the possible adverse reaction after the vaccination. However, my name was included in the list of employees submitted to the Iloilo City government for the mass vaccination,” said Banares.

He said he did not regret that he showed up at the Iloilo Convention Center for his first COVID 19 vaccine shot on June 1 and at the Central Philippine University on June 30 for his second shot.

“I am now fully vaccinated and in those two shots, I didn’t experience any adverse reactions but rather earned another layer of protection against the virus,” Banares narrated.

In her Facebook post, Lynnor Regalado, Administrative Officer and Human Resource Focal Officer of PIA 6, thanked the city government for accommodating the PIA Region 6 and Iloilo Information Center personnel who belong to the priority A4 in their vaccination roll-out.

Aside from the Iloilo Convention Center and the Central Philippine University, the Iloilo City government has opened four more vaccination centers in the metro to accommodate more vaccinees and make vaccination more accessible and comfortable for them. These are at the University of San Agustin, Ateneo de Iloilo, University of the Philippines Visayas and Iloilo City National High School.

Meanwhile, the four staff from PIA Negros Occidental have already received their jabs, of whom three were already fully vaccinated and the another one is waiting for the schedule of his second vaccination.

Likewise, two of the three PIA personnel of Capiz Infocen, as well as two of the four staff of Aklan Infocen and another one from Antique Infocen have also expressed their appreciation to the government after they have already received their anti-COVID vaccine. 

In the entire PIA Western Visayas, only nine of the 26 personnel have yet to receive their shots.  ( JBG/LAF/PIA Iloilo)