Photo courtesy of Xinhua
MANILA – Very few "adverse events" have been reported among the Chinese nationals who got inoculated with China-made vaccines, Philippine Ambassador to Beijing Jose Santiago Sta. Romana said Tuesday, noting the rollout in China has gone "smoothly".
Sta. Romana said over 40 million Chinese have so far been injected with vaccines made by two Chinese manufacturers Sinovac and Sinopharm.
"Among the 40 million and it may already have reached 50 million by now because the target was to reach 50 million as of Feb. 12 and then there was a Chinese New Year so there was a break... (There's) hardly any report of a death, or any death if at all. Adverse events (are) very few. It's basically gone smoothly for the Chinese," he said in a virtual briefing.
Most of the vaccinated were among the high-risk population, including medical front-liners, and personnel working in the airport, transportation, and hotel and service industry.
Sta. Romana noted that some Filipinos have also received these vaccines, including a Filipino doctor working in a Chinese joint venture hospital he met a month ago.
"Kasali siya doon sa priority. Pinauna niya 'yong kanyang mga Chinese colleagues (He's among the priority list. He let his colleagues get the shot first). In the beginning, he was not willing but when he saw the results and the others showed na walang side effect (that there were no side effects), walang (no) adverse event, he agreed and he said it's been good so far," the envoy said.
"So that's where it stands in China, so far so good. They're hitting their target, it may not be on the exact day of Feb. 12 but certainly this week they're going to reach 50 million," he added.
Sta. Romana said China is ramping up its production to provide the much-needed vaccine supply domestically and abroad, particularly in developing countries.
"The developed countries, you know, the United States, Europe, and other countries, they're holding on to a big proportion of the vaccine production, they are certainly holding on to what is produced within their continents or within their countries, so China is playing the role of supplying the developing countries, so they have a lot of work to do to ensure that," he said.
As one of its neighbors, Sta. Romana said the Philippines is "pretty high" on China's list of priorities for vaccine supply.
"We'll try to ensure through diplomatic conversation with the Chinese officials that these (vaccine commitments) are delivered as scheduled and as promised," he said.
Sta. Romana also believes the Philippines would be able to receive the vaccine donations Foreign Minister Wang Yi earlier promised last month by end of February. (PNA)
