PH VAX PROGRAM. Bases Conversion and Development Authority chief and testing czar Secretary Vince Dizon proudly shows his arm vaccinated with CoronaVac at the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium in Caloocan City on Monday (March 1, 2021). The iNITAG has so far allowed the priority vaccination of vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., Dizon, and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chief Benjamin Abalos Jr. (PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler)
MANILA – The government will let the interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (iNITAG) decide on the vaccination of senior citizens and Cabinet members, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Thursday.
“We will leave it to NITAG to give us [its] recommendations in terms of anong brand ng vaccine ang puwedeng gamitin sa anong sector ng population, maging ‘yung sa prioritization ng sectors ng population (the brand of vaccine that can be administered to a specific sector of the population, and the prioritization of sectors of population),” Nograles said in a virtual presser.
Nograles issued the statement, as he acknowledged that the CoronaVac vaccine manufactured by China’s Sinovac Biotech could only be administered to people aged 18 to 59.
The Philippines on Monday kicked off its coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination campaign by giving the first shots of CoronaVac vaccine to some frontline healthcare workers and top government officials.
Results of clinical trials found that Sinovac has a 91.2-percent efficacy rate among clinically healthy individuals belonging to the 18- to 59-year age group.
However, Sinovac only has a 50.4-percent efficacy rate among medical front-liners exposed to Covid-19.
Nograles said iNITAG’s decision is not to use Sinovac vaccines on senior citizens.
Nograles said the government would await iNITAG’s decision whether Covid-19 vaccines made by the United Kingdom’s AstraZeneca could be administered to people aged 65 and above.
“Wala naman pong limitation sa edad ang AstraZeneca vaccine. So we will await the advice of NITAG in terms of saan gagamitin itong AstraZeneca vaccines, kung ito ba ay gagamitin natin sa senior citizens (AstraZeneca vaccine can be used with no age limitation. So we will await the advice of NITAG in terms of administration of AstraZeneca vaccines, whether it could be administered to senior citizens),” he said.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases IATF-EID, upon the recommendation of iNITAG and the Health department’s Technical Advisory Group, has authorized the administration of Sinovac vaccines to frontline medical workers despite results of the clinical trials.
The iNITAG, on the other hand, has thumbed down the IATF-EID’s proposal to reserve vaccine shots for around 50 “influencers” to boost public confidence in Covid-19 vaccines.
The influencers included Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and his fellow Cabinet officials, other lawmakers, media personalities, and movie personalities.
The iNITAG has only allowed the priority vaccination of National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., testing czar Vivencio Dizon, and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chief Benjamin Abalos Jr. who all got inoculated last Monday.
Cabinet members are front-liners too
Nograles said the IATF-EID would ask the iNITAG to reconsider its decision on reserving vaccine shots for Cabinet officials.
He made the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte, during the Cabinet meeting held Monday, sought the inoculation of his Cabinet.
Nograles said Duterte wants Cabinet secretaries to receive vaccine jabs since they are also “frontline workers” who have a high risk of catching Covid-19.
“To the President’s mind and concern, I believe, is that he considers us in the Cabinet as also frontline workers and very much exposed also,” he said.
Nograles said Duterte raised worry over the safety of the Cabinet officials.
“We’ll refer the matter to the NITAG and ask for them to consider, looking at the possibility na kung maaari, ‘yung mga Cabinet members, lalung-lalo ‘yung mga pinaka-exposed, might be able to get inoculated as well (We’ll refer the matter to the NITAG and ask for them to consider, looking at the possibility of allowing Cabinet members, especially those who are most exposed, to get inoculated as well),” he said. (PNA)
