Philippines highly trusts Russian COVID-19 vaccine – survey

MANILA, Philippines — The strongest indicator of trust in Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine was recorded in six countries, including the Philippines, according to results of the first global survey involving 11 countries, inluding in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

“The strongest indicator of trust in Russia’s vaccine was recorded in Mexico, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brazil, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” the Russian Direct Investment Fund said. The RDIF is Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.

The Russian embassy in Manila said the survey was conducted on Oct. 9-19 by YouGov, the leading UK company in market research and data analytics.

More than 12,000 respondents in 11 countries – Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, the UAE and Vietnam – were surveyed on their attitude toward vaccination against the coronavirus and their vaccine preferences.

More than 2.5 billion people – over 30 percent of the world’s population – live in these countries.

The survey indicated that 73 percent of the respondents expressed readiness in being vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The percentage of respondents who expressed readiness is higher among those who are aware of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine – four out of five respondents said they would like to be vaccinated. The increase in percentage could also be attributed to high levels of confidence in Russia as a global vaccine manufacturer.

Sputnik V, Russia’s first coronavirus vaccine, received conditional emergency approval in August with the requirement that it would subsequently undergo large-scale trials.

Survey results in the Philippines showed that 68 percent of the trial participants are positive about the coronavirus vaccination; 55 percent of the respondents are aware of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine; and the Philippines has high confidence in the human adenovirus vaccine (Sputnik V platform) as 12 times more respondents preferred it than the nonhuman adenovirus platform vaccine.

Russia, according to the survey, was rated as the most trustworthy vaccine manufacturer, with 26 percent of the vote, ahead of the United States (23 percent) and China (seven percent), among the vaccine-manufacturing countries that the respondents identified as the most trusted in the first place.

As regards total number of references among the most trustworthy countries (each respondent mentioned three countries), the top three were the US with 52 percent of total votes of the respondents, Russia (43 percent) and China (27 percent).

“RDIF, together with the Gamaleya National Center, will continue to work actively to make the Sputnik V vaccine available globally as soon as our country’s vaccination needs are met,” the RDIF said.

Priority list

Vice President Leni Robredo has recommended preparing a list of those who would be prioritized in case there are limits on the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine that would be made available.

While the government has already identified sectors to be prioritized, including healthcare workers and indigents, Robredo suggested preparing the actual lists of names to hasten distribution once the vaccines are delivered.

“Let’s say we have 500,000 healthcare workers but only 100,000 vaccines arrived. Who will be prioritized?” she said in Filipino during her radio program yesterday. “My suggestion is to identify the actual people, to have lists. Local government units already have these lists, they just have to collate it.”

There will be no issue if the amount of available vaccine covers the entire population at the same time, according to the Vice President.

“But what if only a small amount arrived, what will be the order of prioritization?” she said.

Robredo noted problems during the distribution of social amelioration when the first community quarantine was imposed due to the pandemic.

“While we are waiting, say (the vaccines) arrive in the second quarter of 2021, as early as now, we already have the list… For example, we have one million on the first batch, who will be the first million who will receive it?” she said.

In addition to the budget for the actual vaccines, the Vice President also stressed the need to allocate funds for distribution and infrastructure, especially storage facilities, as some of those that are being developed require specific temperature when being stored and transported. – Janvic Mateo, Mayen Jaymalin