Duterte Wants Cops, Soldiers To Be Among First To Get COVID-19 Vaccines Donated By China

President Duterte wants members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to be among the first to be injected with COVID-19 vaccines donated by China, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go bared on Wednesday, Feb. 10.

Go was referring to commitment of the Chinese government to donate at least 500,000 doses of CoronaVac, a vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech Ltd. in his statement giving updates on the rollout of the government’s vaccination program.

The pledge was made by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during meetings with Filipino counterpart Teodoro Locsin Jr. and Duterte during a visit in Manila last month.

“Also coming to the country is the donation from China – Sinovac. And President Duterte gave orders that to be given priority for some of the donated doses from China are the soldiers and policemen because they are also considered our frontliners,” Go said in Filipino.

Go added he sought information from vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., who told him vaccines from AstraZeneca plc and Pfizer Inc. through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVAX Facility will be delivered to the country as soon as the government complies with certain requirements.

Aside from survey results showing that nearly half of Filipino are apprehensive on having vaccinations, there is also a strong public backlash – including from government health frontliners – on the Duterte administration’s apparent move to favor Chinese-made vaccines that are feared to have low efficacy rates and do not have emergency use authorizations from jurisdictions with stringent regulatory bodies.

There was also a controversy last year when it was admitted by Malacañang that members of the Presidential Security Group have been injected with uncleared vaccines from China.

Athletes need vaccines, too

According to Go, he also impressed upon Duterte and Galvez that aside from frontliners, the government should prioritize poor Filipinos in its vaccination program.

“We also should prioritize our athletes who bring honor to our country and who are also about to start their training (for international competitions). They also have families,” Go said.

The Department of Health (DOH) is open to this proposal of Go.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they understand that there are athletes who are participating in the Tokyo Summer Olympics and the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games late this year.

“This will be considered because there is a request and it is something the government would like to pursue when it comes to sports,” she said in a press conference.

But Vergeire noted that the priority list for COVID-19 vaccination will not be changed for now.

She said the DOH is also open to the inclusion of foreigners who are living in the Philippines to the list of vaccine recipients.

“From a rationale point of view, since they are here and they interact with Filipinos, maybe they should be included. This is something, I believe, would be helpful to everyone," she added.

Vergiere, however, underscored that it is not the DOH that will decide on this matter. She said the DOH will bring up the proposals to the National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups or NITAG for discussion.

“But for now, we stick to our priorities … It will be discussed. Definitely, we will not change our priority list for vaccination.  No sector will be removed from the list just because there is such a request,” she stressed.

On Tuesday, Feb. 9, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said around 56,000 medical and healthcare frontliners  in COVID-19 referral hospitals will be the first to get vaccinated with the 117,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine that will arrive in the country this month.

Andanar was referring to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila, Lung Center of the Philippines and East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City, and Dr. Jose Natalio Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center (Tala Hospital) in Caloocan City.

The healthcare workers in other COVID-19 referral hospitals in Metro Manila, Cebu City, and Davao City are next in line of priorities.

Zamora volunteers

San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora  also wrote to the Inter-Agency Task Force for  the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to allow him to be the first to receive COVID-19 vaccine in the city.

“We very well understand that there is a prioritization list as identified by the IATF, on top of which are the health care workers and medical frontliners,” Zamora said in his letter to IATF chairman and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Wednesday.

“However, the undersigned is volunteering in order to increase the trust and confidence of our citizens in the vaccination process and encourage them to have themselves inoculated as well,” he added.

San Juan City has also recorded the highest number of residents in Metro Manila who registered for the local vaccination program among Metro Manila cities with over 23,202 registrants, the local government disclosed. These are composed of 3,708 local health workers and 19,494 other residents and represent about 19 percent of the city’s total population.

Zamora said the city was able to increase the number of registrants through house-to-house campaigns, social media information drives, and media briefings.

“This is a very comprehensive and viable vaccination plan. San Juan is ready, kulang na lang po ang bakuna,” DOH Disease Prevention and Control Bureau director Aleli Sudiacal said during the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic or CODE Team visit to the city on Wednesday.

Zamora said the city is targeting to vaccinate about 85,000 residents. As of Sunday, Feb.7, there are only 31 active cases of COVID-19 in San Juan.

Backup list

The DOH has instructed all hospitals that will be used as COVID-19 vaccination sites to prepare a “quick substitution list” containing the names of individuals who will serve as “backup” recipients of the vaccines.

Vergeire said each hospital must identify alternative vaccines comprising at least 20 percent of the total target recipients in each facility.

“There is no basis for 20 percent but we just want to make sure that when the vaccination date comes and we will have refusals, at least we have this reserve 20 percent,” she told reporters.

She cited for instance that if the 800 of  PGH employees are in the priority list for vaccination, it must have 200 back-up recipients.

“Considering the fact that these vaccines are very valuable, we don’t want to have wastage in our deployment program,” she maintained.

Earlier, Vergeire underscored that the “acceptable” vaccine wastage was five percent but they will strive to keep this at minimal, given the global shortage for COVID-19 vaccines. - With Neil Jayson Servallos