MANILA: Filipino officials have been hopeful that the country will gradually return to its progressive path in preventing the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection as the Philippines launched a worldwide vaccination program of the country Monday.
“No one will be left behind,” said Carlito Galvez Jr., chief executive of the National Action Group against COVID-19, when the campaign was launched at the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital University (UP-PGH). is run by the state. ).
The government aims to boost at least 1.4 million health workers this month. They are working to obtain 161 million doses of vaccines from various manufacturers.
In addition to the 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines delivered by China on Sunday, Galvez said the country expects to receive 3.5 million doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines from the COVAX facility within the first quarter of this year .
A further 1.5 million doses of the Sinovac vaccines, which are part of the 25 million doses received by the government, are expected to be delivered in March.
The steam vaccination campaign is expected to converge in the third and fourth quarters of this year.
Dr Gerardo Legaspi, head of UP-PGH, was the first Filipino to receive the vaccine on Monday, with the event broadcast live via the government network PTV-4.
Legaspi hoped that by getting into the public, he would encourage other health workers to follow suit. Recent studies have revealed low confidence levels among UP-PGH workers for the Sinovac vaccine.
Legaspi affirmed that “the Sinovac vaccine is safe” and reassured his peers that the Food and Drug Administration and the Vaccine Expert Panel will not “permit a vaccine to be used unless it has been proven safe and sound. effective. ”
In a press release shortly after his vaccination, Legaspi said he “felt like crying as he remembered his friends and colleagues who died with COVID-19.”
He said: “This is not the best vaccine for many, but if you look closely, you can see why I was the first volunteer to receive this vaccine. “
At the same time, Dr Ma. Dominga Padilla, a clinical professor at UP College of Medicine, said several fellow doctors had “felt emotional at the event.”
She said: “There is a lot of false news (about the vaccines), but when the director gets the vaccine first, that is a very strong statement. ”
Padilla said her reason for volunteering was to “get rid of fears about the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines,” which would not be possible “unless they see their doctors getting the vaccine. at first.”
Galvez stressed the importance of vaccines for the country to return to normal.
“We will not return to normal life unless we have the vaccine. We all have a moral responsibility, ”said Galvez.
“Don’t wait for the best vaccine. There is no such vaccine because it is the best vaccine that is effective and efficient and has already arrived, ”he said.
Simultaneous programs continued in selected hospitals throughout the capital region, Metro Manila, as the UP-PGH vaccine was rolled out.
At the same time, several Filipinos welcomed a vaccination campaign as a step in the right direction.
“Finally, the government has started the vaccination program. It is something that should have been done in the past so that we can return to normalcy, ”Leonard Postrado, senior PR manager, told Arab News.
“I am happy to have the vaccine as long as I know the drug is effective. So it’s for vaccines, but not with the less effective Chinese drug, ”he said.
Roy Gascon, a trader affected by the pandemic, agreed: “As a small business owner, we are definitely excited about the vaccine. This will signal the local government and national government units to reopen all centers and allow customers to come in and repurchase our products. “
Another businessman, Robert Cua, said he was willing to be absorbed by the Chinese vaccine.
However, he pointed out that the government needed to get 200 million doses of vaccines for the population of more than 100 million to return everything to normal.
Duterte said on Sunday that it would begin easing community quarantine restrictions across the country once the campaign was launched.
“The sooner we can speed up the vaccination, the better, and the only way to do it is to open up the economy and reassemble businesses,” he said.