By Fernan Angeles
APPALLED by nasty remarks on the government’s preference for Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines, Health Secretary Francisco Duque agreed to take the first shot of it before the government starts administering vaccination to some 24 million Filipinos on the “priority list.”
In an online press briefing, Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said that aside from Duque, other health officials are willing to be inoculated with the first COVID-19 vaccines to be used in the Philippines to allay fears about safety and efficacy.
“So ang Secretary of Health po natin at ang buong Department of Health, if I may say, bukas tayo kung kailangan tayo mauuna sa pagpapabakuna ay magpapabakuna po tayo,” Vergeire said.
Senator Christopher “Bong” Go earlier made a public call on Health Secretary Francisco Duque and vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. to try the vaccine first to assure the public.
Vergeire said Duque was “open to that” and that the vaccines that will be allowed to enter the country have already passed Phase 3 clinical trials, which meant that “the vaccines are safe” and its efficacy “tested.”
Philippines will also study the vaccines through the vaccine expert panel and the Food and Drug Administration.
“So wala po tayong dapat ikabahala para sa bakuna na ito,” she said, adding that the efficacy level should be high and within the target percentage.
Until now, the Philippines has yet to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for public use although there are a few applying for clinical trials in the country. The World Health Organization is also still in the process of running clinical trials although the United Kingdom already approved the vaccine of Pfizer and BioNTech.