Most of the newly donated 400,000 doses of the CoronaVac vaccine manufactured by China’s Sinovac Biotech will be used on health workers in areas that have a high concentration of the new variants of the coronavirus, Malacañang said on Friday.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (iNITAG) decided to allocate the latest Chinese donations to Metro Manila, Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal, Cavite, Cebu City and Davao City.
The 400,000 doses which arrived on Wednesday make up the second batch of donations from China, which earlier sent 600,000 doses to the country.
“As of now, health workers [are still the priority], so that all health workers would have the option to get the Sinovac vaccine,” Roque said in a televised briefing.
The Food and Drug Administration earlier said it was not recommending the CoronaVac vaccine to health workers because of its relatively low efficacy. But the iNITAG cleared the vaccine for health workers on Feb. 26, ahead of the arrival two days later of China’s initial donation of 600,000 doses.
The Philippines rolled out its mass immunization drive on March 1, using the Sinovac doses from China and the 525,600 AstraZeneca doses donated by the COVAX global vaccine pool.
Malacañang reiterated the government priority list of sectors to be vaccinated after a week that saw several local officials—and an actor—managing to get inoculated despite being unqualified at this early stage of the rollout.
Sign of uncertainty
For Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, reports of people jumping the line to be vaccinated, whether they are local officials or celebrities, are symptoms of the uncertainty and lack of public confidence in the government’s ability to roll out the COVID-19 jabs effectively.
“The uncertainty that hangs over the supply and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines affects the confidence of the people in the ability of the government to implement an effective and efficient mass vaccination program,” Drilon said on Friday.
This happens, he said, “when we only have a million or so doses when what we need is at least 140 million doses to inoculate around 70 million Filipinos.”
Ramp up supply
“The government must ramp up vaccine supply. It all boils down to supply and demand. Unfortunately, as admitted by the President, the purchased vaccines are not yet here,” the senator added.
Drilon also noted how the government’s credibility in convincing Filipinos to follow the priority list and health protocols was undermined by reports of unauthorized vaccination of government officials as early as last year.
“I leave it to the Department of Justice to determine possible violations when the prioritization provided for in [the] COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act (of 2021) is not followed,” he said.
President Duterte on Thursday ordered the investigation of local officials who were inoculated ahead of health workers. Undersecretary Bernardo Florece Jr., officer in charge of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, said the five mayors who skipped the line have three days to explain their actions.
Actor Mark Anthony Fernandez also turned up among those who were inoculated with the approval of the Parañaque City government. He later maintained that he committed “no violation” since he was on a “quick substitution list” of people who may take the place health workers who had decided not to be inoculated.
Comorbid
The actor, who was said to be suffering from hypertension, was classified as comorbid or having more than one medical condition.
But Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Friday said only health workers could be included in the quick substitution list cited by Fernandez.
If those scheduled to be vaccinated fail to show up, only other health workers can take the vacated slots, Vergeire said.
In defense of local officials
Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Tolentino defended the local officials who were inoculated.
“The IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) should have categorized as front-liners in the first place the local chief executives, as they are the ones really attending to the COVID pandemic on the ground,” he said.
“As chairpersons of the city, municipal and provincial health boards, mayors and governors are considered de facto health workers being in charge of health matters in their jurisdictions, not to mention their functions in implementing the general welfare clause of the Local Government Code,” Tolentino said in a text message to reporters.
But Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian disagreed, saying in a radio interview that the local officials concerned “still took it upon themselves to get injected first for bragging rights and to save themselves. It’s disappointing because how can they explain this to medical front-liners?” —WITH A REPORT FROM JULIE M. AURELIO