Palace: COVID-19 vaccines from US not enough for all

MANILA, Philippines — While it understands the preference toward COVID-19 vaccines coming from the United States, Malacañang on Tuesday reminded the public the country’s vaccine supply of US-made jabs are not enough to inoculate everyone.

This was presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s reaction to a Social Weather Station (SWS) survey stating 63 percent of Filipinos prefer the US-manufactured COVID-19 vaccines.

“Naiintindihan naman po natin yan na talaga namang sa ating kasaysayan, ang mga Pilipino ay mas humahanga sa mga stateside,” Roque said in an online briefing.

(We understand that based on our history, Filipinos are more impressed about things from the stateside.)

“Pero ang mensahe lang po natin, bagamat meron na tayong kakaunting stateside na mga bakuna, hindi po yan sapat para sa lahat,” he added.

(But our message is, although we have some vaccines from the stateside, it is not enough for everybody.)

Most of the Philippines’ vaccine supply is from Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech at over 5.5 million, followed by AstraZeneca at 2.5 million, Pfizer-BioNTech at over 193,000 and Russian-made Gamaleya at 30,000 doses.

“Bagamat meron tayong preference sa stateside, unahin na po muna natin ang ating mga buhay, ang buhay ng ating pamilya, ang buhay ng ating komunidad, magpabakuna na po kung ano ang available,” Roque said.

(Although we have a preference for those made at the stateside, let’s prioritize our lives, our family’s lives, our community’s lives and have ourselves vaccinated with whatever is available.)

Despite the preference for American-made vaccines, the SWS survey also showed Sinovac is Filipinos’ most preferred brand followed by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

JPV