By Brylle Lancelot R. Abad
StratCom Intern

Employees of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) who are frontline health workers (A1), senior citizens (A2), and those with comorbidities (A3) are now getting their second doses of vaccines against COVID-19 from the Department of Health (DOH) through the Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center (MMMH-MC). 

The vaccination roll-out, which started last June 16, aims to fully vaccinate more than 1,000 University employees in accordance with the prioritization scheme of DOH. 

According to Dr. Saturnina Nisperos, director of Information and Technology Center (ITC) which takes charge of data management and registration, a total of 1,003 employees were already inoculated as of this writing. Of this number, 760 already got their second doses of Sinovac Coronavac vaccine while 243 got their second doses of BioNTech Pfizer vaccine. 

In the University’s Resbakuna site, employees undergo registration, counseling and final consent, screening, vaccination, as well as post-vaccination and monitoring. 

The vaccination team also assures the minimum health protocols are being strictly observed in the process.

The activity is a continuation of the initial vaccination done last June where same employees received their first doses. (Read article: https://www.mmsu.edu.ph/news/doh-mmmhmc-start-vaccinating-mmsu-employees). 

The vaccination drive became possible after MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis sought help from the DOH and MMMH-MC, through Dr. Maria Lourdes. K. Otayza, the medical center chief, to allocate vaccines for the eligible university employees. 

The MMSU’s vaccination team is composed of personnel from the College of Medicine (COM) being led by its dean, Dr. Ricardo S. Guanzon; College of Health Sciences (CHS) being led by its OIC dean, Prof. Ryan Dean T. Sucgang; Health and Wellness Services Directorate, with Dr. Leonisa Silvestre as Chief; ITC; and, the College of Arts and Sciences - Department of Computing and Information Sciences being led by its chair, Prof. Andrea Estrella Garcia. 

Meanwhile, the MMMH-MC team, with vaccination team leader, Dr. Gretchen Ranada, provided technical assistance and coaching to the MMSU team. (StratCom)