Palace says directive is in accordance with COVAX guidelines
(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte said the Pfizer vaccines donated by the COVAX Facility should be reserved for indigent Filipinos in accordance with the conditions set by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the vaccines’ delivery.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr., said that the instructions were given amid the reported preference by many, especially the well-off for the Pfizer doses that have been donated recently by the World Health Organization’s COVAX Facility.
Roque said the President has also instructed to make the Pfizer vaccines available in vaccination sites in barangays where vaccine take-up is low, in line with the Chief Executive’s earlier directive to provide safe and effective vaccines for all Filipinos.
“Pinag-utos rin po ng Pangulo na ibigay ang Pfizer sa mga mahihirap or sa indigent population dahil iyan po ang patakaran ng COVAX. Dagdag ni Presidente, ilagay ang Pfizer hindi sa mga mall kung hindi sa vaccination sites ng mga barangays kung saan mababa ang take up ng vaccines,” Roque said in a Palace press briefing Thursday, May 20.
“Ito ay ayon na rin sa naging unang direktiba ng Pangulo na mababakunahan ang mga Pilipino nang libre; walang maiiwan at walang iwanan dahil hindi tayo ligtas hangga’t hindi ligtas ang lahat,” he said.
-Priorities set by COVAX-
Roque said that the President had already directed Vaccine Czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez, to implement his directive.
The indigent or poor Filipinos belong to A5 category.
The COVAX Facility has specifically set as condition that their donated vaccines should be used for health workers (A1 category), senior citizens (A2 category) and the indigent population.
Duterte had also noticed photos of the long queues for the Pfizer vaccine wherein social distancing was not observed.
“Napansin ng Pangulo na naging pihikan ang ating mga kababayan pagdating sa vaccine brand. Kaya nanawagan po tayo na huwag tayong mamili ng brand ng bakuna,” Roque said.
Duterte had earlier advised Filipinos not to be choosy when it comes to the vaccines that they will get, saying all of these are effective.
All the vaccines have passed scrutiny and study by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the panel of experts from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Department of Health (DOH).
All the vaccines being administered have been given emergency use authorization by the FDA.
“Ang pinakaligtas na bakuna ay ang bakunang nasa inyong braso—anumang brand po iyan,” Sec. Roque remarked.
“Hindi lamang po iyan dumaan sa proseso sa Pilipinas, dumaan din yan sa proseso abroad dahil mayroon din pong WHO emergency use list na halos lahat naman po ng ginagamit natin ay dumaan din doon sa proseso ng WHO,” he added.
The COVAX Facility has so far sent 193,000 doses of Pfizer on May 10. Galvez said some 1.3 million more Pfizer doses are expected within the month.
The Philippines has, as of May 20, got a total of over 8.2 million doses of COVID-10 vaccines. Of this number, 5.5 million are Sinovac doses, and some 2.5 million doses are donated AstraZeneca doses from COVAX. The rest are Sputnik V (30,000 doses), and the 193,000 Pfizer doses.
(Eagle News Service)
