President Rodrigo Duterte has reprimanded local government units for choosing to use Pfizer, the US brand of COVID-19 vaccine, noting that being selective was not feasible in light of the global supply shortage.
The President said equality must be followed in the country’s vaccine distribution.
“Allowing some localities to administer a single brand of vaccine to their constituents would agitate other LGUs and make similar demands,” he said.
“I cannot administer exclusive Pfizer in just one area to the exclusion of other Filipinos. So it is not possible. We need to mix and let the people (be) blind on what vaccine to get. It's still a vaccine,” he added.
Pfizer is just one brand among many that the Philippines is procuring from COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, the President said, noting vaccine brands do not vary in efficacy.
“Vaccine is vaccine, no one can choose.. And the best bakuna is really the one that’s available for you,” he said.
Chinese nationals inoculated?
The Department of Health said Thursday they were looking into reports that several Chinese nationals had been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Philippines, as the agency noted that the basis of their inoculation was “unclear.”
The Pasay City local government earlier said the Chinese nationals were inoculated as they were either senior citizens or persons with comorbidities, among the priority sectors of the country's COVID-19 vaccination program.
"We will have that investigated because it remains unclear what the basis for their vaccination was,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.
Pasay City Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano earlier said the Chinese nationals went through the regular vaccination process and were not given special treatment in inoculation sites.
Supply scarcity
Duque said the Philippines had not yet included teens and children in its COVID-19 vaccination program while the country had yet to get sufficient vaccines for more vulnerable sectors.
"We cannot include them yet because they are not part of the high-risk group and because we still lack vaccines,” Duque said.
"It's okay to vaccinate them but our vaccine supply remains limited so we really have to follow the prioritization formula,” he added.
Although teenagers are not yet a priority, Duque said the Vaccine Expert Panel has been studying the COVID-19 vaccination of younger age groups.
Shipments to provinces
Cebu Pacific Air (CEB) delivered shipments of COVID-19 vaccines to five provinces, with Iloilo as the new destination.
The latest delivery comprised of 28,880 doses for Tuguegarao, and 2,000 for Tacloban on May 21; 20,000 doses in Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro on May 24; 15,000 to Zamboanga on May 25, and another 10,000 doses for Iloilo on Thursday.
A total of 75,880 doses were transported safely.
"We are grateful for the opportunity to continue aiding in this national endeavor to transport vaccines across the Philippines through our widest domestic network," said CEB chief commercial officer Xander Lao.
Herd immunity
Those who have been inoculated earlier need to get their jab anew after a year or two years for the country to maintain herd immunity, said a molecular biologist from the OCTA Research Group.
Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, also a professor of biology at the Providence College in the United States, said herd immunity was something we have to maintain and not just something attained.
"It is something we have to maintain once we reach (herd immunity), which means, basically, every year or every two years, those who have been vaccinated have to be re-vaccinate to maintain herd immunity," he said.
