Health chief Duque won’t receive Sinovac vaccine

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III will not be receiving the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine as the Philippines starts its inoculation campaign, among the last countries to do so in Southeast Asia.

Longtime Duterte aide Senator Bong Go initially announced Duque would be among government officials who will receive the Sinovac vaccine on Monday, March 1. The Department of Health (DOH) later clarified Duque will not be vaccinated with Sinovac as he is over 60 years old.

Duque “will not be vaccinated with Sinovac as its emergency use authorization (EUA) provisions exclude 60 and above,” the DOH told reporters on Sunday, February 28.

“He also underscores that we will follow the prioritization framework, and will ensure that limited doses will go to the healthcare workers first,” it added.

At least 600,000 doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac – a donation from the Chinese government – arrived in the country on Sunday following delays in paperwork.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its EUA only on February 22. It also recommended its use to people aged 18 to 59 after separate Phase 3 trials in Indonesia and Turkey demonstrated an efficacy of 65.3% to 91.2%.

FDA also did not recommend it to be used for health workers with high exposure to the disease, but the interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group on February 26 eventually approved it and said that the Sinovac vaccine is “safe for use for healthcare workers.”

Several hospitals are expected to receive coronavirus vaccine and administer doses to health workers starting Monday.

The Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19, however, earlier urged the Duterte government to wait for the review of the country’s Health Technology Assessment Council before using donated Sinovac vaccines.

In a press conference on Sunday, President Rodrigo Duterte said health workers who refuse to take Sinovac “have a choice,” and can wait for the other vaccines that are set to arrive in the country.

“Kung ayaw nila ng Sinovac, maghintay sila (if they don’t want Sinovac, they can wait),” he said. “In a few days, there has been quite a… I was assured that [AstraZeneca] would be coming within the next few days.”

At least 525,600 doses of vaccines developed by British drugmaker AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is expected to arrive in a week, after it was postponed from March 1. – Rappler.com