By GENALYN KABILING
Pandemic-hit Philippines may finally see the light at the end of the tunnel with the arrival of the first batch of the precious COVID-19 vaccine today.
Around 600,000 doses of vaccines developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech will be delivered to Manila with President Duterte and some Cabinet members ready to welcome the cargo at the airport.
The arrival of the Sinovac vaccines, donated by the government of China, comes as the pandemic has infected more than 500,000 people, and severely weakened the local economy.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier approved the Sinovac vaccines for emergency use, paving the way for their immediate delivery to the country.
The drug regulator did not recommend the use of the Sinovac vaccines for health workers due to the varying levels of efficacy. The vaccine, however, may be used by healthy individuals between 18- and 59-years-old.
Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian earlier said the donated vaccines to the Philippines are part of the friendship and partnership between the two countries. “It is a fine tradition between China and the Philippines to help each other in trying times. A friend in need is a friend indeed,” he said.
With the arrival of the vaccine, the government is also expected to kick off its inoculation program this week.
Roque said the vaccine rollout can begin by tomorrow. “All we need is one day and then we will roll out. So, if it arrives on Sunday, if I am not mistaken, then we can roll out on Monday, dahil excited na excited na po ang maraming kababayan natin,” Roque said in a press conference last Thursday.
The government said it aims to vaccinate up to 70 million or two-thirds of the population this year to help attain herd immunity. Among the priority beneficiaries are frontline health workers, senior citizens, economic frontliners, and poor and vulnerable citizens.
Aside from the Philippines, two other Southeast Asian countries received their first batch of COVID-19 jabs from Sinovac – Indonesia and Thailand.
Indonesia – the first country to give Sinovac’s CoronaVac an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) outside China – received their jabs last Dec. 3, and kicked off their inoculation program last Jan. 13, with President Joko Widodo getting the first jab.
Thailand, on the other hand, had their Sinovac vaccines delivered on Feb. 24. (With a report from Noreen Jazul and Jaleen Ramos)
