MANILA, Philippines — Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya was inoculated with China biotech firm’s Sinovac vaccine in Pasay City General Hospital on Tuesday.
LOOK: DILG Usec Jonathan Malaya got vaccinated using Coronavac in Pasay City. (Photo: Dexter Cabalza, Philippine Daily Inquirer) | @ConsINQ pic.twitter.com/3jZnJhjS7d
— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) March 2, 2021
Malaya was the first to get inoculated in the Pasay-based hospital, which received the initial doses of Coronavac.
In an interview with reporters, Malaya urged government officials to get vaccinated to increase the public’s confidence in the vaccine.
“Kailangan ng mga government officials magpabakuna para tumaas pa ang vaccine confidence. Nakakatuwa kasi patuloy na tumataas ang vaccine confidence sa public dahil sa nangyayari na ito,” he said.
(Government officials need to get vaccinated to increase vaccine confidence. I am happy that vaccine confidence is improving because of these events.)
Malaya urges government officials to get inoculated against Covid-19 to increase vaccine confidence of Filipinos. @inquirerdotnet pic.twitter.com/DNSb7bD5fx
— Consuelo Marquez (@ConsINQ) March 2, 2021
Earlier, authorities had detected six cases of the South African variant of Covid-19 or B.1.351 variant. Of the number, three were residents of Pasay City.
Pasay recently imposed 14-day localized lockdown in almost 100 households after the city health office noticed a surge in active Covid-19 cases in 55 villages.
Octa Research also flagged Pasay as high-risk with a daily attack rate of seven per 100,000.