VIGAN CITY, July 11 (PIA) -- The provincial government of Ilocos Sur, through its Provincial Health Office (PHO), continues its intensified COVID-19 vaccination program to all municipalities and cities of the province.

As of July 9, the PHO recorded some 52,992 vaccinees who belong to the A1 to A3 priority groups who received their first dose of the COVID-19 jab wherein some 15,962 of these have completed their second dose.

Since its pilot inoculation on March 5, Ilocos Sur has received four types of COVID-19 vaccines, namely: Sinovac Coronavac, Oxford AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Gamaleya Sputnik V.

On June 9, Ilocos Sur received an additional 10,637 doses of Sinovac vaccine from the DOH.

Of this, 3,878 doses are allotted for the first doses of remaining recipients under A1 to A3 priority groups while 6,759 doses are allotted for the second doses of vaccinated recipients under the same groups.

As for the vaccination of A4 priority group, the PHO said they are completing the vaccination of A1 to A3 priority groups while waiting for the memorandum from the DOH to start the vaccination for recipients belonging to A4.

Same as in Cebu province, San Remigio Mayor Mariano Martinez said they have not started with their A4 or essential workers because they're still concentrating on the A1 to A3.

“Now, there are many people who want to get vaccinated in our municipality and our problem is the amount of vaccines available, hopefully this will increase,” Martinez said during the Network Briefing News episode on July 5.

“I'm really encouraging everyone, especially our senior citizens but I'm not really too concerned because these people are not really going around, they're staying home most of the time but it would be good to have them vaccinated so we can move on to our essential workers,” he added. (JCR/AMB/JMCQ, PIA Ilocos Sur)