MANILA, Philippines — Presidential spokesman Harry Roque on Monday said he regrets not getting vaccinated against COVID-19 during the rollout of China-made Sinovac BioTech shots at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) on March 1.
He made the admission after he announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus.
“Nagsisisi nga ako na hindi ako nagpabakuna noong panahon na sa PGH kasi kung hindi siguro naubusan at napabakunahan ako sa PGH, siguro hindi na ako nadapuan ngayon [ng COVID-19],” he said in a Palace briefing.
(I regret not getting vaccinated in PGH because if I had gotten a shot, maybe I would not have contracted COVID-19 now.)
Roque was present during the rollout of China-donated vaccine doses from Sinovac at PGH on March 1. He was supposed to get inoculated but later said he did not make it into the cut for the first round of vaccinations.
He also explained he was not able to get vaccinated since medical frontliners are currently the priority for immunization. He instead encouraged medical frontliners to get vaccinated while jabs are still available for them.
“It was really, I think, sad na hindi ako nakapagpabakuna (that I wasn’t vaccinated) but we also have to follow protocols na unahin muna ‘yung mga (to prioritize) medical frontliners,” he said.
“So ang aking pakiusap doon sa mga medical frontliners, kung mayroon pa ho, kunin niyo na ‘yan. Nandyan na ho ang bakuna, kunin ninyo na ho kaysa ma-include kayo sa datos gaya ko,” Roque added.
(I appeal to medical frontliners to get vaccinated when they still have the chance. The vaccine is there, get it, so you won’t be included in the statistics like me.)
The Philippines has so far administered a total of 193,492 COVID-19 vaccine doses, the Department of Health (DOH) reported on Monday.
The country kicked off its vaccination drive on March 1, following the arrival of 600,000 doses from Sinovac.
On March 4, 487,200 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from British-Swede firm AstraZeneca arrived in the country, followed by another set of 38,400 doses that arrived on March 7.