Transport workers, farmers, fishermen and call center agents will likely be among the economic frontliners who will be given priority in the distribution of the Chinese-made vaccines, Malacañang bared Monday.
The essential workers, including uniformed personnel, will be pushed ahead of the vaccination line after local drug regulators did not recommend the use of Sinovac vaccines for health workers and seniors, according to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
The vaccines developed by China's Sinovac Biotech earlier secured emergency use approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) but have been recommended only for use of healthy persons between 18 and 59 years old due to varying efficacy rates. The country's medical frontliners and senior citizens are originally listed first and second on the government's vaccination list.
"I can confirm that it looks like Sinovac will be the first vaccine that we will use in our vaccination program," Roque said during a televised press briefing Monday, Feb. 22.
"We are only talking of 600,000. So, I think we will prioritize the military for the 100,000 and the economic frontliners for the first 600,000 dosage," he added.
Roque said there was no problem about the list of the country's economic frontliners, saying these are the workers in industries that were not shut down during the strict lockdown.
"We’re talking of farmers, we’re talking of miners, we’re talking of fishermen, we’re talking of transport workers, so sila po iyong mga economic frontliners na tinatawag natin (They are the economic frontliners). We’re talking of export-oriented industries. We’re talking of...ano pa ba? BPOs, iyon po (those working in business process outsourcing companies)," he said.
"Mayroon na po tayong mga listahan. Matagal na pong nakalap natin iyan because handa na nga po tayong maglunsad ng ating bakuna (We have the list. It has long been collated because we are ready to launch our vaccination program)," he said.
The 600,000 Sinovac vaccines donated by Chinese government were originally expected to arrive in the country on Feb. 23 but China decided to wait for the emergency use approval from the FDA before delivering the supplies.
Of the 170 million vaccine doses being negotiated, the government has so far secured 25 million doses of Sinovac that will be delivered in batches until December this year. The country's other vaccine sources include Gamaleya, Novavax, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson.
The bulk of the country's supply will be sourced from COVAX facility, a global vaccine acquisition scheme, at 44 million doses.
On the AstraZeneca vaccines under COVAX facility, Roque said the company has sent notice that the vaccines will be shipped out at the end of the month "but warned that there may be delays because of logistical challenge."
Asked about the date of arrival of the Pfizer vaccines also through the global facility, Roque said there was still no certainty on the matter.
"We’re only talking of 115,000 doses anyway from Pfizer ‘no. So hindi naman po talaga malaking issue iyan (so that's not really a big issue)," he said.
"Ang malaking inaasahan natin iyong AstraZeneca at saka iyong Sinovac that will begin delivery of at least one million dosages for the next few months, tapos madudoble pa iyan to two million, kung hindi ako nagkakamali, nang pang-apat na buwan yata (The huge shipment we expect will come from AstraZeneca and Sinovac that will begin delivery of at least one million doses for the next few months. It will be doubled to two million if I'm not mistaken by the fourth month)," he said.