Who are the first Filipinos to get authorized COVID-19 jabs?
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines began its vaccination drive against COVID-19 Monday, with medical frontliners, government officials and uniformed personnel first in line to receive donated Chinese shots.
Philippine General Hospital Director Gerardo “Gap” Legaspi was the first person to receive CoronaVac, the vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech in a “symbolic” vaccination activity held this morning. This marked the start of the massive inoculation program against the severe respiratory illness in the Philippines.
Legaspi, a neurosurgeon, also became the first individual in the country who received an authorized COVID-19 jab. Last year, members of the Presidential Security Group and several government officials jumped the vaccination line and used smuggled vaccines developed by Chinese state-owned Sinopharm.
PGH nurse Chareluck Santos administered the first official COVID-19 shot in the Philippines.
Aside from Legaspi, other personnel from the country’s main COVID-19 referral center took the Sinovac vaccine although many health workers still opted out and decided to wait for another vaccines.
Aside from the PGH, the rollout also took place at five hospitals in outbreak epicenter Metro Manila.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III attended vaccination activities at the Lung Center of the Philippines and the Victoriano Luna Medical Center but did not get CoronaVac since his age falls outside the range of 18 to 59 suitable to get the jab.
The country’s Food and Drug Administration gave emergency use authorization a week ago to CoronaVac but did not recommend its use for healthcare workers. The government later allowed it to be offered to medical frontliners who want to take it.
The following were among the people who have received the first doses of CoronaVac:
Philippine General Hospital in Manila City
- FDA Director General Eric Domingo
- Vaccine czar and National Task Force against COVID-19 Chief Implemented Carlito Galvez Jr.
- Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Benhur Abalos
Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium (Tala) in Caloocan City
- Testing czar and NTF Deputy Chief Implementer Vince Dizon
- Tala Hospital Medical Center chief Dr. Alfonso Victorino Famaran, Jr.
- Nursing service chief Samuel Sumilang
Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City
- Emergency medicine and outpatient department manager Dr. Eileen Aniceto
Philippine National Police General Hospital in Quezon City
- PNPGH chief Lt. Col. Cleto Manongas
- PNPGH deputy chief Lt. Col. Raymond Ona
- PNP health service director Brig. Gen. Luisito Magnaye
Victoriano Luna Medical Center in Quezon City
- V. Luna Hospital commanding officer Col. Fatima Claire Navarro
- Lt. Col. Cynthia Liao
- Maj. Joel Lorenzo Rollo
— with report from News5/Patricia Mangune
The national government has so far secured two official deals for COVID-19 vaccine supplies in the Philippines, one with Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac and another with the Serum Institute of India.
Watch this space for bite-sized developments on the vaccines in the Philippines. (Main image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash)
Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire says the general population may now get their second booster jab.
"We're just waiting for the release of implementing guidelines, then we'll start rolling out our second booster for the general population," she says. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
Amid questions on vaccines being administered, the Department of Health assures the public all doses are safe and effective as the “process of extending shelf life goes through thorough stability studies.”
“The government ensures that every vaccine that is injected with an extended shelf life has gone through studies, and is still safe and effective against COVID-19,” it adds.
Government must increase vaccination capacity across the Philippines in anticipation of a surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant of the corona virus, Sen. Risa Hontiveros says.
She says local government units and the private sector can work together to put up more vaccination centers and deploy more vaccination teams to get more people inoculated against COVID-19.
"The active COVID cases have nearly doubled in three days. The positivity rate is almost four times the ceiling set by the World Health Organization. Huwag na nating hintayin na sobrang lumala pa ang sitwasyon bago tayo gumawa ng paraan para mapabilis ang ating pagbabakuna."
FDA chief Eric Domingo says that its agency has given emergency approval for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.
The United States immunized around 900,000 children aged five-to-11 against Covid in the first week the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for them, a White House official says Wednesday.
Roughly 700,000 more have made appointments at pharmacies, White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients tells reporters.
"The program is just getting up to full strength," he says, adding most of the shots were given in the last couple of days alone. — AFP
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