Demand for Sinovac vaccine increases

MANILA, Philippines — Since government started inoculation last March 1, demand for Sinovac jabs has been increasing as more health workers change their minds about the Chinese vaccine, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said yesterday.

He confirmed there has been an increase among those who want to be inoculated with Sinovac, after the initial reluctance felt by many medical frontliners.

The national vaccination plan kicked off with more vaccines being sent outside the National Capital Region to faraway provinces, including areas in the Visayas and Mindanao.

On Thursday night, over 400,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the plant in Belgium arrived in the country.

But Duque was also quick to point out that China is going to donate an additional 400,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine, on top of the initial 600,000 doses that arrived last Feb. 28.

Meanwhile, vaccination for Davao City started yesterday with ceremonies at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), where more than 80 percent of over 1,200 health workers expressed willingness to be inoculated.

There shall also be separate rollouts for the vaccination in adjacent provinces over the weekend.