'Doing everything': Bangsamoro continues COVID-19 vaccination program

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – The autonomous Bangsamoro region in southern Philippines is continuing its COVID-19 vaccination drive in full swing, and efforts of the regional government have borne fruit, the chief minister claimed on Tuesday.

“We are doing everything in order to control the COVID-19 pandemic … Alhamdulillah [Thanks to God Almighty], we are among the regions with lowest number of virus cases,” Murad Ebrahim told Anadolu Agency over phone from the capital Cotabato.

The Muslim-majority Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which is led by Ebrahim since February 2019, has reported a total of 9,507 COVID-19 cases and 367 related deaths, according to a government statement.

The chief minister said the region has allocated budget for the purchase of vaccines “but the national government instructed us to spend that money on other health facilities as the inoculation program is centralized."

Bangsamoro received Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson shots from Manila, Murad said, adding: “We are also expecting Moderna vaccines from the national government in a few days."

“I myself got vaccinated from Pfizer,” he said.

The BARMM has fully vaccinated 144,153 individuals, and 91,282 of them have received the single dose J&J shot.

“We have successfully conducted vaccination efforts to the priority groups as prescribed by the national government,” the chief minister said.

Around 18,508 of Bangsamoro’s 23,351 frontline healthcare workers are fully vaccinated, while the remaining have received their first dose.

The press release said the government has also launched a web portal to allow its citizens register for vaccination easily.