NEARLY 93 percent of the more than 222,000-strong Philippine National Police force are now fully vaccinated with 6.30 percent having already gotten their 1st dose of the vaccine to fight the deadly COVID-19 virus, the PNP leadership headed by General Dionardo B. Carlos said yesterday.

As of Monday, the PNP Health Service under Brigadier Gen. Antonino R. Cirujales said that 92.76 percent of the force or 209,414 police personnel are already fully vaccinated while 6.30 percent or 14,227 are already waiting for their 2nd vaccine shot.

Cirujales reported to Gen. Carlos that as of press time, a total of 0.93 percent of the force or 2,106 are not yet vaccinated with 859 of them considered having valid reasons not to get the shot while 1,247 are reported to be without any valid reasons at all.

Since the government started its vaccination program this year, a total of 395,396 vaccine doses have been administered to members of the force.

Since March 2020, a total of 42,164 PNP personnel have contracted the virus although 41,935 of them have already fully recovered from the disease and are now back to full duty status.

Brig. Gen. Cirujales said they have recorded a total of 125 COVID-19 deaths in the PNP since March 2020.

On Monday morning, the PNP-HS started giving booster shots to its medical front-liners. The PNP will inoculate 1,390 personnel who have gotten their full doses over the past eight months.

Gen. Carlos said they are prioritizing their healthcare workers to be followed by policemen manning the different Quarantine Control Points in Metro Manila and the rest of the country.

PNP dependents are also being given the vaccine by the PNP-HS.

Brig. Gen. Cirujales said members of the PNP Medical Reserve Force are already ready for the national vaccination day.

There are a total of 5,530 police personnel composing the PNP-MRF with 331 of them assigned as vaccinators.

The official also said that the most frequent cases of ‘recurring COVID-19’ in the organization are those who were given the Sinovac vaccine early this year. However, the official said that those who were stricken anew by the virus after getting the full shots were described as ‘already easy to cure.’

PNP Deputy Chief for Administration and concurrent Administrative Support for Joint COVID-19 Task Force commander, Lieutenant Gen. Joselito M. Vera Cruz said they have started giving the booster shot to 1,300 of their medical workers at Camp Crame in preparation for their deployment in the 3-day national vaccination program from November 29 to December 1.

The official said they received 111 vials, each with six doses of Pfizer vaccines from the Department of Health last Friday. “We will give the booster shots to Camp Crame-based medical front-liners lang muna na naka-eight months na simula nung 2nd dose nila,” he said.

The DOH earlier said fully vaccinated health care workers can choose from among Pfizer, Moderna and Sinovac as additional shots.