PH gov't starts Covid-19 vaccination program with Chinese-donated doses

By Jack Russel Ramos

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The Philippine government has launched its Covid-19 program today, March 1, after many delays to fulfill the previously set goal of vaccinating 70 million Filipinos this year.

The first batch of 600,000 doses of CoronaVac, Sinovac Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine, donated by the Chinese government had already reached the country when a transport plane of China landed at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City at 4:10 p.m. on Feb. 28. This was greeted by President Rodrigo Duterte, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.

Photo courtesy of Presidential Communications (Government of the Philippines) Facebook Page

On the other hand, 526,600 Covid-19 vaccines that were created by the British-Swede biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca were expected to be delivered today but would be delayed for one week due to supply problems, Duque said in an interview with PTV-4.

On the first day of the government's vaccination drive, the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Director Dr. Gerardo Legaspi became the first official recipient of the Covid-19 vaccine in the country. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Director-General Eric Domingo, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Benhur Abalos, and National Task Force Against Covid-19 deputy implementer Vince Dizon also received CoronaVac shots today.

The Sinovac vaccine, which has a low efficacy rate of 50.4% compared to other Covid-19 vaccines, is not recommended by the FDA to healthcare workers who are exposed to Covid-19 patients, Domingo said in a public briefing in PTV-4.

However, the FDA added that the vaccine can inoculate healthcare workers who are not treating patients with Covid-19.

Medical workers are now allowed to choose which vaccine they want to be injected with and will be prioritized when their preferred vaccine brand is available, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said during an interview with PTV-4.

Recently, healthcare workers of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) picketed against the Sinovac vaccine and urged the government to quicken their negotiations with other Covid-19 vaccines.

According to Robert Mendoza, the president of Alliance Health Workers (AHW), there are some 2,500 to 3,000 PGH Workers who would not want to be inoculated with the Sinovac shot because of its low efficacy rate. The president of the Filipino Nurses United (FNU), Maristela Abenojar said that their members had the same demand.

“The government should retain the priority list for vaccination but we want vaccines with higher efficacy rates,” Mendoza said as quoted by The Philippine Star.

Despite having the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in Southeast Asia, the Philippines is the last country to secure Covid-19 vaccines.

Neighboring countries like Indonesia and Myanmar already started their vaccination programs last January, while Singapore was the earliest that started using vaccines last Dec. 30, 2020.

Even though the vaccines were not yet delivered here in the Philippines, the provincial government of Cebu has decided on Feb. 22 that a negative swab test result is no longer required to be presented by the visitors entering the province.

In lieu of this, medical certificates and proof of prebooking accommodations must be presented, as issued in the Executive Order (EO) 12 by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

The EO shows guidelines on travel for interested tourists with less requirements. It was said to boost tourism and economy in the province even though they had 2,992 total active COVID-19 cases in Cebu City alone as of Feb. 27.

Also, in Metro Manila, the Covid-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) finally allowed movie theaters, arcades, and other leisure activities to operate under the general community quarantine (GCQ) today.

As the Philippine government rolled out its vaccination campaign, the new Covid-19 variant B.1.1.7 has started to spread with a total of 62 cases in the country and three new mutations in Central Visayas.