The Ministry of Health in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has announced that more than 15,000 health care workers have received their first dose of the anti-coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine.

Dr. Bashary Latiph, BARMM health minister, said Saturday as of June 4, a total of 15,347 health care providers have been immunized.

Latiph said the figure corresponds to about 70 percent of the total number of master-listed health front-liners of 21,873 who belong to the A1 priority group.

“Of the more than 15,000, about 20 percent have received their second dose while the remaining more than 8,000 are set to have their second dose in the coming days. Aside from health front-liners, senior citizens in the region have also received their immunization against the virus. We have yet to finish collating the data submitted to us by the BARMM provinces regarding the vaccination of senior citizens,” he said.

BARMM has so far received a total of 78,800 doses of vaccines from the national government.

The regional government has earlier set aside PHP500 million for the procurement of vaccines with recognized pharmaceutical companies should the national government give the go-signal to do so for local government units. (PNA)