BACOLOD CITY, March 8 (PIA) -- A strong manifestation on the safety of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines was displayed when five medical doctors and a nurse had themselves inoculated with Sinovac vaccines that arrived in Bacolod City, March 5.

Dr. Miguel Sarabia, ophthalmologist and President of Negros Occidental Medical Society (NOMS), made history as the first Bacolodnon based in Bacolod City to get the Sinovac vaccine as City Health Office-OIC Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr administered the vaccination during a ceremonial rite held at the lobby of the Bacolod City Government Center shortly after the vaccines landed at the Bacolod-Silay Airport via a Philippine Airlines flight.

The actual inoculation of the Sinovac vaccine to Dr. Sarabia solicited cheers from the local officials led by Bacolod City mayor Evelio Leonardia, doctors, nurses, and the media as history unfolded in Bacolod City.

"This is historic! This is the first vaccine to arrive in Bacolod. Let it be part of history that the first vaccination in Western Visayas happened in Bacolod City, as the first COVID-19 case in Western Visayas was also recorded in Bacolod City. This makes today's event more significant and meaningful," Leonardia said.

The other doctors who were part of the ceremonial vaccination are no ordinary doctors as they are infectious disease and allergy experts, among others.

Aside from Sarabia, his wife and nurse Valerie Villarosa-Sarabia also received the vaccine together with doctors, Hector Gayares Jr., chief executive officer of the Adventist International Healthcare System Philippines, and deputy medical volunteer at the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center, Dolores Rommela Tiples-Ruiz, infectious diseases specialist and president of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases - Negros Occidental Chapter, Radela Yvonne Ramos- Cortes, allergologist (Internal Medicine, Allergy, and Immunology) and Carlos Javier Primicias Jr., a pediatrician.

After the 30-minute observation period, no adverse reaction or side effects were noted among the medical frontliners who were inoculated with Sinovac vaccines in Bacolod City. *(LTP/EAD-PIA6 Negros Occidental)