‘No death among Filipino HCWs fully vaccinated with Sinovac’

MANILA, Philippines — Unlike in Indonesia, no doctor fully vaccinated with China-made Sinovac has died of COVID in the country, according to COVID-19 Interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) member Dr. Maria Consorcia Quizon.

“What I can say at least, here in the Philippines, we started Sinovac (vaccination) in our health workers back in February and praise God, there was no one hospitalized or died when they are fully vaccinated,” Quizon said in OneNews’ “The Chiefs.”

Quizon made the remark in reaction to the reported deaths among fully vaccinated doctors in Indonesia.  She also noted that these cases “need further investigation” and that based on real-world studies, Sinovac showed as high as 98 percent efficacy rate against severe COVID infection.

“This alone gives us confidence in the vaccines that we have in the country,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire agreed, adding that the report from Indonesia did not clearly indicate who among those who died were vaccinated.

However, Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon is alarmed by the reports from Indonesia.

“That is very alarming because as it appears now, Sinovac is the vaccine of choice by the government. We want to prevent the situation that is happening now in Indonesia. We are not promoting any brand. What we are saying is, Filipinos deserve the best vaccine, especially frontline doctors and nurses who are exposed to the virus,” Drilon said.

At the Laging Handa public briefing yesterday, Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) member Dr. Rontgene Solante said COVID-19 vaccines have different efficacy rates, but all can provide protection against severe forms of infection.

“Even if there is a delay in the interval, what is important is that you receive the second dose,” Solante added in Filipino.

Major milestone

While the 10,065,414 vaccine jabs administered nationwide is a major milestone, more needs to be done, according to National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr.

“This is very significant because while many appeared not to believe that we can do it, we were able to vaccinate five million in one month. This is far from the one million that we have done in 40 days when we started,” Galvez said, adding that the number is still very small compared to the government’s 70-million target for herd immunity.

Galvez also expressed confidence the government will be able to vaccinate at least 10 million persons per month, once more vaccine shipments arrive in July.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) reported yesterday that 17,463,660 doses of COVID-19 jabs have arrived in the country from Feb. 28 to June 28 – 12 million from Sinovac, 2.556 million AstraZeneca, 2.478 million Pfizer, 249,600 Moderna and 180,000 Sputnik V.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government announced that its donation of 1 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses to the Philippines is expected to arrive in Manila on July 8. – Jose Rodel Clapano, Robertzon Ramirez, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Pia Lee-Brago