"Who’s more willing to help us?"
Yesterday, a friend sent me a text message asking me which vaccine for the dreaded novel coronavirus I would prefer – that from the US or that from China?
I did not respond to his message not because I view his question to be unnecessarily dealing with the who’s-better-US-or-China debate, or who’s-our-real-friend question, but because I view the issue of vaccine as more of a necessity. Whoever comes up with a vaccine, as long as it is proven effective and had been approved by the proper bodies, should not matter.
Last week, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque bared the government will be getting its supply of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine starting next year from three manufacturers – Sinovac Biotech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, and Pfizer-BioNTech.
And according to Roque, it’s Sinovac from China which is leading the race for Philippine vaccine supplier as it could start supplying the country with the anti-COVID vaccine as early as the first quarter of next year. Pfizer-BioNTech's shots could come in the second or third quarter of 2021.
For the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 jabs, while the country has secured some 2.6 million doses via a tripartite agreement, latest reports say that the United Kingdom-based drug firm has withdrawn its application to conduct COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials in the country, although it is not yet clear whether this would affect its commitment to supply us with the anti-COVID vaccine.
With the rate of infection again soaring to high levels, do we really have the luxury of choosing or waiting for the development of a vaccine from the US?
According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, as of December 8, a total of 13 have entered the third phase of the clinical trial stage, and five of which are from Chinese vaccine developers of Sinopharm, Sinovac, CanSino and Anhui Zhifei.
No less than Chinese Ambassador to Manila, Huang Xilian, says that the vaccines from Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSino, which have all that have entered Phase 3 clinical trials, are progressing smoothly.
According to the Ambassador, more than 60,000 volunteers worldwide have been vaccinated without any serious adverse reactions, showcasing excellent safety and efficacy of the vaccines.
“The third phase of clinical trials of these vaccines are being carried out in more than 10 countries such as the UAE, Brazil, Indonesia, Peru, Argentina, Pakistan, etc., with vaccination population samples covering 125 nationalities, some of which have been or are about to be completed, and the data have been submitted to different regulatory agencies for listing approval, says Ambassador Huang.
And more importantly, about 1,500 Filipinos participated in the third phase of clinical trials of the Sinopharm vaccine in the UAE.
Unfortunately, we haven’t heard of any vaccine manufacturer from the US saying they have utilized Filipinos in their clinical trial, nor have we heard any commitment from any US vaccine manufacturer to supply us with the vaccine. In fact, reports have it that they are out to corner the initial batch of vaccines manufactured for COVID-19.
This is very much unlike the case with China, which has committed to support us in the fight against COVID-19.
“We are happy to see positive progress in vaccine cooperation between China and the Philippines. I hope Chinese vaccines could contribute to the fight of Filipino government and people against COVID-19 at an early date. China is willing to work with the Philippines to fight the pandemic and help the Philippine economy and society return to normal as soon as possible,” was Ambassador Huang’s statement of commitment.
No offense meant for my friend, but aside from the matter of necessity, the issue has also come to a crucial question of who’s willing to help us at this point in time. The answer seems quite obvious.
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COVID pa more.
The other day, I received a text message from a source saying a large fraternity will be holding an event in Lipa City in Batangas. With the expected attendees numbering more than 50, mostly senior citizens, the event would be a gross violation of the IATF health protocol.
According to my source, he informed an undersecretary of the DILG, who in turn, told him they have already relayed the information to the PNP. According to the source, the undersecretary even told him the mayor would be held responsible as he had given permit to the event even with its glaring violation of the IATF protocol.
However, when rumors went around a senator, who’s also a member of the fraternity would be joining the affair, the undersecretary suddenly “backed out” and told the informant to simply file a written complaint.
But why does it need to go that way when the DILG and PNP could have simply stopped the event organizers from proceeding? Photos of the event sent to this writer shows at least 18 people, mostly seniors were on the stage. If one of those who attended the event was infected with COVID-19, he or she could have easily spread the virus. And this could have been prevented had the DILG or the PNP acted decisively.
So, now aside from waiting for the written complaint to be filed, the best these people could do is to pray no one among the attendees was infected with the killer virus.
