An estimated 30 percent or a third of the Filipino public have doubts about receiving vaccines, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Eric Domingo said Tuesday amid the government’s preparations for COVID-19 vaccination.
Domingo, in an interview on GMA Network’s Unang Hirit on Tuesday, said the government should assure the safety and efficacy of vaccines to the public.
“There is still seems to be those who doubt it. There is still what we call vaccine hesitancy of about 30 percent of the public. They are not yet sure if they want to be immunized,” said Domingo.
“We need to show and make them feel safe, the efficacy data of vaccines and the importance of vaccination,” he added.
The entire population should be vaccinated to eradicate COVID-19, Domingo said. With an estimated population of 110 million, the Philippines eyes to vaccinate 60 to 70 million people in three to five years.
Pinay nurse shares limelight
Meanwhile, A Filipina nurse administered the first COVID-19 vaccine to a 90-year-old British grandmother who became the first person in the world to receive Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine outside clinical trials, just days after the United Kingdom approved use of the drug.
Margaret Keenan received a dose of the vaccine at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, administered by nurse May Parsons from the Philippines, said British Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce.
On a day dubbed "V-Day," health workers in Britain started inoculating people with a shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, with the country a test case for the world as it contends with distributing a compound that must be stored at -70C.
Other cures sought
The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to look for other off-label drugs to treat COVID-19 patients after three medications in its clinical trials were ineffective, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
In a virtual briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Philippines and other countries are still trying out remdesivir after the other arms of the WHO’s Solidarity Trial were halted.
The WHO earlier said it is no longer recommending the use of the antiviral drug since it also did not show “meaningful effect” on patients. However, Vergeire previously said the WHO asked them to continue and finish the ongoing tests.
The hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir arms of the Solidarity Trial were discontinued in July after they showed little positive effect on the patients. Hydroxychloroquine was initially used for malaria while lopinavir and ritonavir are HIV drugs.
Vergeire said there were also 85 patients who took lopinavir and ritonavir, 66 who took hydroxychloroquine, and 171 who took interferon, which was also declared ineffective in October.
Air assets needed
A House leader on Tuesday urged the government to conduct immediate inventory of air assets owned or leased by civilian government agencies, and government owned- and controlled- corporations (GOCCs) in preparation for the arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine in the country.
Assistant Majority Leader and Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas said supplies of the vaccine could reach far-flung areas in the country faster using planes and helicopters of civilian government agencies and GOCCs since they are smaller in size compared to C-130s used by the military, which means they can land on short runways.
“While our Air Force has its work already cut out for them, the government would need more logistical support to roll out the COVID-19 immunization program immediately. We need to have as much of our people vaccinated as fast as we can,” he said.
Vargas recalled that some GOCCs, like the Philippine National Oil Company, own helicopters for their aerial surveys or transport of personnel.