File photo
MANILA – The national government will stick to its Covid-19 National Vaccination Plan, Malacañang said Thursday after some ranking government officials, who are not frontline medical workers, reportedly received the Sinovac-made CoronaVac jab.
Under the government’s prioritization list, frontline healthcare workers are supposedly first in line to be administered with the vaccine brand of their choice.
However, some government officials including the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya and Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chief of staff Michael Salalima had already received the CoronaVac shot.
Other officials who received the vaccine are Pasay City Vice Mayor Noel Boyet Del Rosario and Manila Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan, who is also a doctor.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier ordered only three officials -- vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., testing czar Vince Dizon, and MMDA chairperson Benhur Abalos -- to get inoculated to boost confidence in the vaccine.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Eric Domingo was also allowed to receive the CoronaVac jab.
In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Malaya and Salalima, who were both vaccinated at the Pasay City General Hospital on Tuesday, were “prompted” by hospital officials to also receive the CoronaVac vaccine.
“The two naman, in good faith, thought that they were doing the nation a service by having themselves vaccinated kasi nga mataas pa yung tinatawag nating distrust sa bakuna (because there is still high distrust in the vaccines). So upon being prodded and being offered and guided by their desire to increase public confidence in the vaccine, nagpabakuna po sila (they had themselves vaccinated),” he said.
He admitted that the interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group’s (iNITAG) strict policy to stick to the prioritization list was “not disseminated properly.”
“Hindi talaga niya alam na hindi na-approve yung gusto namin na mga taong gobyerno ang magpapturok para nga ma-increase po ang vaccine confidence. Dahil nga po ang desisyon naman ng iNITAG na huwag na bakunahan ang iba pang mga tao (He really didn’t know that our proposal to have government officials vaccinated to boost vaccine confidence was not approved. Because of the decision of iNITAG not to vaccinate officials) beyond Secretary Galvez, Secretary Dizon, and Chairman Abalos was not really disseminated properly,” he said.
Roque admitted that there were some “breaches” in the protocol but assured that it is now clear that only frontline healthcare workers are allowed to receive vaccines first.
“Hindi po tayo perfect sa pagpapatupad nitong protocol, nagkaroon tayo ng kakaunting breaches pero we (We’re not perfect when it comes to implementing protocols, there were few breaches but we) have learned from the breaches and now everyone knows medical front-liners muna (first),” he said.
Medical front-liners still the priority
Following the expected arrival of 487,200 doses of United Kingdom’s AstraZeneca vaccines on Thursday night, Roque assured that frontline healthcare workers will still be the first group to receive the vaccines.
The AstraZeneca vaccine will be the second vaccine brand to arrive in the country after China’s Sinovac vaccines arrived last Sunday.
“The only thing I can be sure of is uunahin ang medical front-liners (medical front-liners will still go first). But the iNITAG would have to come up with that protocol. But I suppose they will follow the same protocol priority,” he said.
Earlier, Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunizations (NACI) recommended against using the AstraZeneca vaccines in people aged 65 and older.
Roque, however, allayed fears over the safety and efficacy of the UK-manufactured vaccine, noting that no less than the World Health Organization (WHO) has given it clearance for emergency use.
“I don’t think it is something that should be a basis para mag-atubili na naman sa AstraZeneca. Itong AstraZeneca po ay (to have hesitations again about AstraZeneca). This AstraZeneca is) equally as popular as Pfizer,” he said. (PNA)
