Duque: Be patient with delivery of Covid-19 vaccines amid tight global supply

MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Monday appealed for the public’s patience on the delay of Covid-19 vaccine’s arrival in the country.

In a televised briefing, Duque cited the global supply shortage as the main reason behind the delay in vaccine shipment.

“Wag naman po sana kayo mawalan ng tiwala sa ginagawa po ng inyong gobyerno sa pag-angkat ng mga bakuna,” Duque said.

(Please don’t lose trust in the government’s efforts to secure the vaccine.)

“Kaunting pasensya po ang akin pong pinapakiusap, umaapela po ako sa taumbayan. Makakaasa po kayo na darating at darating po yang mga bakunang iyan pero dapat ipaliwanag ko rin na ang pangunahing dahilan kung bakit wala pang bakuna ay talaga naman yung global supply shortage,” he added.

(I am appealing to the public for a little patience. You can expect that the vaccines will arrive but I also need to explain that the main reason why we don’t have vaccines yet is the global supply shortage.)

Health Sec. Francisco Duque III. (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)

Citing the United Nations, Duque said only 10 countries have so far started vaccinating their citizens.

“In fact, pati ang WHO ang nagsasabi na 130 countries ay hindi pa rin nakakapagumpisa ng kanilang bakunahan,” he added.

(In fact, even WHO said that 130 countries haven’t started their immunization program.)

Some 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vccine were expected to arrive in the country via the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility mid-February, but this was hampered by issues on the indemnification agreement.

The delivery of vaccine doses from AstraZeneca is likewise facing delays due to manufacturing issues, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said.

But with the vaccine of China’s Sinovac already securing an emergency use authorization from local regulators, at least 600,000 doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine, donated by the Chinese government are expected to arrive in the coming days.

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