Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco is cool to purchasing the Sinovac vaccine and maintained that people can choose what vaccine to take.
"Kung ako, pasensya na, medyo takot ako sa Sinovac eh (For me, sorry, I’m a bit scared of Sinovac)," Tiangco told CNN Philippines Friday night when asked if he is willing to take Sinovac if the national government offers it to him.
Tiangco also said he "would beg to disagree" with presidential spokesman Harry Roque that the vaccine beneficiaries cannot choose their vaccines because vaccination "cannot be mandatory" in the first place.
"Number one, hindi mo pwedeng pilitin ang tao na magpabakuna kung ayaw nya. Kaya nga doon sa form na dapat fill-upan, kailangan may consent sila. And again, bago sila magpabakuna, kausapain muna sila. May consultation 'yan to make sure na hindi sila pinipilit (First, you cannot force people to get inoculated if they do not want to. That's why they should fill out a form first, showing their consent. Before they get vaccinated, there will be consultation to make sure that they're not being forced)," Tiangco added.
"Number two, kung sasabihin mong hindi kayo pwede pumili, eh papano kung sabihin ng tao na, kung di yung brand ko, di na ako papabakuna. mas maraming mawawala sa ating lahat di ba? Kasi dapat mas marami magpabakuna eh (Second, if you prevent the person from choosing a vaccine, and refuses to take the one being offered, we will be at the losing end because our goal is to get more people to have the vaccine)," he added.
He said that was the reason why the local government of Navotas conducted an informal online survey to know the vaccine preference of the residents in order to determine which brands the LGU would purchase.
"Unti lang naman may gusto noon (Sinovac) sa Navotas, so di na kami bumili ng Sinovac (Only a few preferred Sinovac, so we would not buy it anymore)," Tiangco said, adding that the city will only purchase vaccine from AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna.