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March 1, 2021

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Philippines gets Sinovac shots

THE Philippines received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccine doses yesterday in a shipment donated by China, a day before it was due to roll out a national inoculation campaign.

A Chinese military transport aircraft carrying 600,000 doses of CoronaVac vaccine arrived in an air base in the capital Manila. President Rodrigo Duterte and top Cabinet officials expressed relief and thanked Beijing for the vaccine from China-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd in a televised ceremony.

“COVID-19 vaccines should be treated as a global public good and made available to all, rich and poor alike,” Duterte said, warning that “no one is safe until everyone is safe.”

China’s ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, said China has exported vaccines to 27 countries despite its own domestic needs, adding “no winter lasts forever” when China and other countries help each other in solidarity when crisis strikes.

Vaccinations initially of health workers and top officials led by the health secretary were scheduled to start in six Metropolitan Manila hospitals today.

To boost trust, several top officials are expected to receive the CoronaVac jab. Aside from hospital workers, the military is set to receive 100,000 doses.

Aside from the donated Sinovac vaccine, the government has separately ordered 25 million doses from the Chinese company. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the delivery of 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine that was initially scheduled for today would be delayed by a week due to supply problems.

The deliveries are a small fraction of at least 148 million doses the government has been negotiating to secure from Western and Asian companies to vaccinate about 70 million Filipinos for free in a massive campaign. The bulk of the vaccine shipments are expected to arrive later this year.

The Philippines has reported more than 576,000 infections, including 12,318 deaths, the second-highest toll in Southeast Asia after Indonesia. Lockdowns and quarantine restrictions have set back Manila’s economy in one of the worst recessions in the region and sparked unemployment and hunger.

Duterte’s administration has come under criticism for lagging behind most other Southeast Asian countries, including much smaller and poorer ones like Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, in securing the vaccines.

Duterte has said wealthy Western countries have cornered massive doses for their citizens, leaving poorer nations scrambling for the rest. The Chinese vaccine delivery was delayed due to the absence of an emergency-use authorization from Manila’s Food and Drug Administration.




 

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