At least 3,692 medical workers have been inoculated against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in public and private hospitals in the entire Zamboanga Peninsula as of Thursday, the regional health officials said.

Most of those who received the vaccines were from the government-run Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC), the Covid-19 referral hospital in the region, with 528 inoculated front-line workers, the Department of Health (DOH) 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) said in a statement.

The ZCMC was the first public hospital to roll out its vaccination program as the inoculation kicked off on March 5, hours after the first batch of vaccines arrived in this city from the DOH central office.

The second-highest number of inoculated health care workers were from the Zamboanga del Norte Medical Center, with 487; Zamboanga Sibugay provincial hospital, 450; Zamboanga del Sur Medical Center, 369; and Jose Rizal Memorial Hospital, 290.

Dr. Joshua Brillantes, DOH-9 director, said the fight against Covid-19 is now stronger with the arrival of the vaccines.

The region received its second batch of vaccines on Wednesday, five days after the DOH-9 received the first shipment on March 5.

Brillantes said the second batch of vaccines – consisting of 11,000 vials – is for all medical workers in the region.

Of the 11,000 vials, 10,000 were from Sinovac, and 1,000 were from AstraZeneca. (PNA)