Vaccination drive kicks off
THE government kicked off its Covid-19 immunization drive on Monday with ceremonial inoculations in several hospitals in Metro Manila.
Medical frontliners at the hospitals were among the first to be jabbed with the China-donated CoronaVac vaccine.
At least two Cabinet officials, vaccine czar and National Task Force
Against Covid-19 (NTF) chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. and NTF deputy chief implementer Vivencio Dizon also received their shots in a bid to convince the public that the vaccine was safe and effective.
Galvez was inoculated at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila and Dizon at the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital in Caloocan City.
But the distinction of being the first Filipino to receive a vaccine in his country went to PGH Director Dr. Gerardo Legaspi.
Galvez said in a press briefing later that CoronaVac doses would be flown to Cebu and Davao within the week.
The doses will be for frontliners in the Vicente Sotto Medical Center in Cebu City and the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City.
Galvez said the vaccine would be transported next to Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Baguio City.
The government plans to vaccinate more than 1 million health workers in March.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said he would not get a CoronaVac shot because of his age. He is 75 years old, and the vaccine is recommended for individuals aged 18 to 59.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr., who also signed up for vaccination, said he would get his shot on Tuesday since all the doses allocated for the PGH had been used up.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, co-chairman of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the inoculation of public officials “aims to demonstrate that Covid-19 vaccines that have secured an Emergency Use Authorization from [the] Food and Drug Administration are safe and proven means to prevent Covid-19.”
With the start of the vaccination of medical frontliners, Galvez said he hoped the level of acceptance for CoronaVac would increase.
At the Lung Center of the Philippines, 20 health workers were administered CoronaVac shots.
Lung Center Director Dr. Vincent Balanag said 150 more health workers would be vaccinated.
Balanag told reporters that he would try to convince all the hospital staff to get their shot but admitted that it would be tough to convince them to be jabbed with CoronaVac.
“S’yempre, we expect na may hesitancy, lalo na ‘yung may alternative, ‘yung AstraZeneca, pero n’ung inexplain namin n’ung town hall [meeting] namin last Saturday, inexplain namin ‘yung advantages ng Sinovac rather than the AstraZeneca…I am sure marami pang health workers namin ang magpapabakuna in the coming days (Of course we expect that there will be hesitancy, especially [that we expected] the alternative, which is AstraZeneca, but when we explained it in our town hall meeting last Saturday the advantages of Sinovac rather than AstraZeneca…I am sure there will be more health workers who will be vaccinated in the coming days),” he said.
The first batch of AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 vaccine that was scheduled to arrive on Monday was delayed for one week because of supply chain issues.
Balanag said the Department of Health was ready to replenish the initial 600 doses allocated to the hospital once it runs out.
In his speech during the ceremonial vaccination, Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd stressed the safety, quality and efficacy of the CoronaVac.
He said the vaccine went through the strictest and most exhaustive studies and had high standards of safety, efficacy and quality.
The Health chief assured that the government would answer for adverse events following immunization with the signing of the Covid-19 vaccination act, which includes indemnification for vaccine side effects.
Galvez said he sees the possibility of the entire country being placed in modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) in the second quarter of 2021 if the country could maintain a stockpile of two to five million vaccine doses.
Duterte said he would approve a nationwide MGCQ if the country acquires 20 to 30 million vaccine doses.
Galvez, meanwhile, said the government expects to receive 5.1 million vaccine doses by the first quarter of 2021.
For the second quarter, it expects to receive 26 million more doses.