DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said they have observed that Dabwenyos are being picky with their vaccines, noting that not many are visiting sites administering the Sinovac vaccine.
Duterte-Carpio said in a radio interview on Monday, September 6, 2021, that based on her recent monitoring at some vaccination sites in the city, she noticed that there were fewer persons coming to sites administering China's Sinovac Biotech's CoronaVac vaccine.
"Usually, nagahinay siya sa mga sites nga Sinovac ang gina-rollout. Because ang atoang vaccination is voluntary and makapili ka og brand sa bakuna, ang mga tao usually pag-abot nila didto, when they know it's Sinovac, naga-backout sila or nagahulat sila og lain na brand [sa] bakuna," the mayor said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
(Not many are going to sites where Sinovac is being administered. Since our vaccination is voluntary and they can choose their preferred vaccine, people usually back out or they prefer other vaccine brands upon learning that the site will be administering Sinovac.)
She said this is among the challenges that the City is encountering in its vaccination rollout.
"Lately, sa vaccination, na-notice nato na medyo nagahinay siya. We are looking for residents nga under sa A1 to A5 nga kinahanglan magpabakuna," Duterte-Carpio said.
(Lately we noticed that our vaccine rollout is slow. That is why we are looking for residents under A1 to A5 that need to be vaccinated.)
Despite this problem, the mayor said this had not resulted in the expiration of some vaccines.
She reminded the public to have themselves vaccinated once it is their turn.
"Magremind lang ta sa atong tanang kaigsuunang Dabawenyo nga dili na mamili og brand sa bakuna because in this pandemic, everyday counts. And because wala ta kabalo who may become severe or critical, kita on our own dili ta mahibalo kung kanus-a na or kung kita ba to nga mahimong severe or critical, it is important nga pag naa ang opportunity na tagaan ta og schedule nga magpabakuna, dili na ta magpili og brand sa bakuna," Duterte-Carpio said.
(I would like to remind our fellow Dabawenyos not to be choosy with the brands because in this pandemic, everyday counts. And because we do not know if we will be a severe or critical case, it is important that when your opportunity to be vaccinated comes, do not be picky with your vaccines.)
Davao City Covid-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said in a radio interview on Wednesday, September 8, that she also has similar observations.
Schlosser said they are strengthening their information campaign to convince the public to have themselves vaccinated, regardless of the vaccine brand, as it is the same vaccine that protects against the Covid-19.
"Whether unsang klase siya nga brand, ang purpose niya (any kind of vaccine brand, its purpose) is to protect [us from Covid-19]," she said.
Schlosser said there has been a notion that western brands offer greater protection compared to other vaccines.
She said regardless of the vaccine, all vaccines that were given emergency use authorization (EUA) by the government offer the same protection against the virus.
"Kon ma-infect man ka, mild to asymptomatic ang imong makuha nga Covid-19 kasi protected ka," Schlosser said.
(If you will be infected, you will only experience mild to asymptomatic symptoms of Covid-19 because you will be protected.)
As of September 1, the Davao City Vaccination Cluster already inoculated a total of 605,434 first doses, while 340,050 individuals were already fully vaccinated for the second dose.
The Davao City Government is targeting to vaccinate an estimated 1.2 million Dabawenyos, at least for the first dose, before the end of 2021.