MANILA, Philippines — “Halos maluha-luha po kami no’ng dumating ‘yung Sinovac.”
(We were tearful when the Sinovac vaccines arrived.)
Such was the remark of National Task Force against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Monday on the shipment of 600,000 doses of China-made vaccines from Sinovac BioTech on Sunday, which he dubbed as “doses of hope.”
“At last dumating na ‘yung doses of hope na hinihintay,” he said in a speech at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) where the government’s vaccination program officially started.
(At last the doses of hope that we were waiting for have arrived.)
The Sinovac vaccines will be used to inoculate healthcare workers in several hospitals in Metro Manila and some soldiers under the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The government kickstarted its Covid-19 vaccination program at PGH to encourage healthcare workers and other Filipinos to get immunized against Covid-19.
PGH director Gerardo Legaspi was the first to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, followed by Food and Drug Administration Director General Eric Domingo.