ONLY the Sinovac candidate vaccine against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) would be available in the country between February and June 2021 since the Novavax and AstraZeneca candidate vaccines are expected to arrive only in the second half of the year, Malacañang reiterated Tuesday, January 12, 2021.
Health workers, senior citizens and other individuals on the priority list who refuse to be inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine will lose their priority slot and will have to wait until all those on the list will have received the vaccine, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque reiterated Tuesday.
“Kung ayaw n’yo ng Sinovac, well, ‘di kayo pipilitin. Kaya nga lang po, kung ikaw ay mayroong prayoridad - kung ikaw ay health worker, senior citizen at ayaw mo ‘yan - mawawalan ka ng prayoridad,” Roque said in his regular virtual press briefing.
“Kailan ka uli magkakaroon ng bakuna na sana’y ‘yung gusto mong brand? ‘Pag tapos na po lahat ng may prayoridad. Ibig sabihin, pipila kayo with the rest of the Filipino population,” he added.
Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire confirmed Roque’s statement, saying this is based on the national deployment and vaccination plan.
She stressed that no rights would be violated in the implementation of the vaccination plan.
All Filipinos would be provided with information about the vaccine, including its advantages and side effects, prior to inoculation. Each Filipino would have the choice to sign a consent form or a waiver.
“Mayroon ho tayong informed consent. So wala ho tayong mava-violate doon po sa mga karapatan ng ating mga kababayan,” she said.
Vergeire said the names of those who decline to be inoculated will be moved to the bottom of the priority list.
She emphasized that all candidate vaccines against Covid-19 would undergo scrutiny by the Food and Drug Administration to ensure safety and efficacy.
“Lahat po ng bakuna...kapag pumasok po sa ating bansa, sisiguraduhin po ‘yan ng ating Food and Drug Administration na ito po ay magiging ligtas at saka magiging epektibo para sa ating mga kababayan,” Vergeire said.
“So any kind of vaccine that will come into the country, basta nabigyan na po ng Emergency Use Authorization ng Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines, equal footing na po ‘yan. Pare-pareho na po sila na sinasabi ng ating FDA na sila ay magiging ligtas at sila ay magiging effective or efficacious. Kaya hindi po natin kailangan na mamili ng bakuna,” she added.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said Monday that the first Covid-19 vaccine expected to arrive in the country is from Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
The Philippines is expected 50,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine, called CoronaVac, in February, 950,000 doses in March, and two million to three million per month in the succeeding months until December.
Acquisition of the Sinovac vaccine was done through the Covax initiative of the World Health Organization, which aims to ensure equitable access to safe and effective vaccines.
The FDA has yet to issue an EUA for the use of a candidate vaccine against Covid-19 in the Philippines.
Sinovac has not applied for an EUA as of January 11, said FDA Director General Enrique Domingo.
The companies that have applied for an EUA in the Philippines are Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Gamaleya.
Novavax, whose candidate vaccine will be manufactured and supplied to the Philippines by Serum Insitute of India (SII), has also not applied for an EUA.
The national government has signed a advance purchase agreement for 30 million doses of the Novavax vaccine.
Earlier, the government and large corporations in the country also signed an agreement with AstraZeneca for the procurement of 2.6 million doses of AZD1222 vaccine.
Multilateral agreements for the advance purchase of up to 10.598 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are also being signed among local government units (LGUs), National Task Force Against Covid-19 for the national government, DOH and AstraZeneca.
Among the LGUs that have signed so far are Davao City, Iloilo City, Pasig City, Navotas City and Manila City.
Both the Novavax and AstraZeneca vaccines will, however, be available in the third quarter of 2021, at the earliest. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)
ERRATUM. This article has been updated to edit the part about the Presidential Security Group vaccination. The PSG personnel were given the Sinopharm vaccine, not the Sinovac vaccine. Our apologies for the confusion. - Editor