The Philippine government welcomes the expanding list of vaccines validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use, according to National Task Force against COVID 19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.
In an online interview on Wednesday, June 2, Galvez said the inclusion of Sinovac in the emergency use listing (EUL) is a positive development, as the country continues to scale up the procurement of this brand since April.
The Philippines has received a total of 5.5 million doses of Sinovac vaccines since February, one million doses of which were donated by the Chinese government, while the rest were government-procured.
A total of 4.5 million doses are expected to arrive in the country in June, with the first shipment for the month containing one million doses due to arrive on June 6.
“This is a major boost not just in our vaccine rollout and in our efforts to address vaccine hesitancy among many Filipinos, particularly our senior citizens,” said Galvez.
PH vaccine portfolio: All safe and effective
He also pointed out that the inclusion of the Sinovac in the WHO’s EUL is a “strong testament that the vaccines procured by the government are all safe and effective.”
Among the seven brands in the Philippine vaccine portfolio, five have been validated and included in the WHO’s EUL. These are Pfizer-BioNTech, Astrazeneca, Janssen, Moderna, and Sinovac.
“Naniniwala tayo na mas mahihikayat ang ating mga mamamayan na magpabakuna at magtiwala sa mga bakunang binili ng pamahalaan,” Galvez said.
“Nakita naman natin na unti-unti nang tumataas ang uptake sa senior citizens, sana magpatuloy ito at lalo pang tumaas sa darating na mga araw,” he noted.
“Tuloy-tuloy po ang ating pakikipag-ugnayan sa mga lokal na pamahalaan to address not only the hesitancy but also the accessibility of our senior citizens,” Galvez added.
The vaccine czar said that with this recent development, Sinovac will now be included in the COVAX facility’s vaccine supply that will be distributed to countries around the world.
According to the WHO, the EUL is “a prerequisite for COVAX Facility vaccine supply and international procurement.”
“Lalaki ang supply ng COVAX at the same time, ‘yung ating mga OFW and seafarers ay hindi na mag-aalala as all countries should recognize the vaccines under EUL of WHO, given that it is the highest level of stringent regulatory authority,” Galvez said.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III along with seafarers groups had appealed earlier to President Rodrigo Duterte to start inoculating members of the sector and other overseas Filipino workers with western vaccine brands, as this is the requirement of their countries of destination.
There have been reports that those workers vaccinated with non-western brands will not be allowed to enter the country of their employment.
500,000 jabs a day by Q3
Galvez is confident that with the steady arrival of bigger vaccine doses, the Philippines can increase its daily vaccination rate to 500,000 jabs in the third quarter to 700,000 a day in the fourth quarter.
He stressed that the country’s vaccination output will largely depend on the steady supply of vaccines coming from different manufacturers.
Galvez said the government and the private sector are preparing to activate an additional one to two thousand vaccination sites in the coming weeks to meet the weekly target of 1.5 million shots administered in June.
As of May 31, a total of 3,850 vaccination sites are operating nationwide.
By August to September, the government is eying to open the vaccination program to the general public. This will increase the government’s weekly vaccination target to at least two million jabs.
Galvez said that the government is committed to achieve disease containment as early as possible wherein the most vulnerable sectors and those with the highest burden of death are fully vaccinated.
These individuals, he said, belong to priority groups A1 (healthcare workers), A2 ( senior citizens), and A3 (persons with comorbidities).
Galvez also emphasized that the government still aims to vaccinate 70 million Filipinos for the nation to achieve population protection, which can only be realized through mass vaccination.
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