MUNTINLUPA CITY–The Department of Health Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (DOH-RITM) conducted the ceremonial rollout of the first 10 doses of the ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccine today. Director Celia Carlos was the first person in RITM to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“As the leader of this agency, I need to show a good example. It is my hope that I may influence our employees who are still doubtful about getting vaccinated. There have been many studies on the value of these vaccines and on how they prevent severe disease and deaths,” advocated Carlos in her opening remarks.

The Institute was allocated 100 vials of the AstraZeneca vaccines enough to inoculate 1,000 RITM personnel. The Institute-wide immunization program will start tomorrow and will run for a week for the first dose of the vaccine. The second dose will proceed after four to 12 weeks.

The symbolic vaccine recipients included the head of hospital operations Dr. Mari Rose delos Reyes, and the head of the RITM Nursing Department Loida Oliquino. DOH Field Implementation and Coordination Team (FICT) Assistant Secretary Elmer Punzalan and DOH Metro Manila Center for Health Development (MMCHD) Assistant Director Ma. Paz Corrales graced the ceremony.

As of this writing, RITM has already vaccinated 300 of its workforce during the two-day CoronaVac rollout last week, an addition of 30 Sinovac recipients today, and 10 vaccinees during the ceremonial AstraZeneca roll-out earlier this morning. RITM targets to persuade, reassure, and vaccinate all of its employees as it works towards doing its share in helping the Philippines achieve herd immunity.