MMDA chair vaccinated with Sinovac jab: ‘Upbeat ang buong bansa’

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Benhur Abalos gets Covid-19 vaccine at the Philippine General Hospital on Monday, Mar. 1, 2021. Photo from  PCOO-OGMPA

MANILA, Philippines — Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Benhur Abalos joined other government officials in being among the first to receive the Covid-19 vaccine on Monday.

Abalos was vaccinated with the anti-Covid shot from China-based Sinovac at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila.

The jabs used at the PGH were part of the 600,000 doses donated by the Chinese government to the Philippines.

“Ngayon po, ako ay masaya. I am upbeat na ito na, nagsisimula na [ang vaccination],” Abalos said in an interview over PTV.

(Right now, I am very happy. I am upbeat that the vaccination has started.)

“Kaya gusto ko pasalamatan ang ating mahal na Presidente, ang team ni [vaccine czar] Sec. [Carlito] Galvez, ang mga frontliners, mga nandito sa [UP-PGH], lahat ng tumulong po, talagang upbeat ang buong bansa sa bakunang ito,” he added.

(I want to thank our beloved President, Galvez’s team, frontliners who are here in PGH, everyone who is helping. The entire country is upbeat.)

The first to receive the country’s first official vaccine in the country is PGH Director Dr. Gerardo “Gap” Legaspi.

Aside from the PGH, the donated vaccine doses were also transported to the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center and Sanitarium (Tala), Veterans Memorial Medical Center, Philippine National Police General Hospital in Camp Crame, and Victoriano Luna Medical Center early Monday morning.