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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Palace: Sinovac's CoronaVac not a low-quality vaccine

Palace: Sinovac's CoronaVac not a low-quality vaccine

Published Feb 22, 2021 05:10 pm

Malacañang said that even with just a 50.4-percent accuracy rate, the CoronaVac vaccine of Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac was not of low quality and that it is better to have a vaccine than none at all.

(Nicolas Asfouri / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after the local Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Sinovac's vaccine, prompting the delivery of the initial 600,000 doses donated by the Chinese government.

In his Monday presser, Roque said that even with just a 50.4-percent efficacy rate in Brazilian clinical trials, that was the threshold set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

"It is not a low-quality vaccine. It is accepted, under standards arrived at by the WHO itself," he said.

"It is a guarantee na yung mga nabakunahan ay hindi po mamamatay dahil sa COVID-19. It is a guarantee na kung ikaw ay tamaan man, mild and asymptomatic ka lamang (It is a guarantee that those who will receive the vaccine will not die of COVID-19. It is a guarantee that in case you do get afflicted with the disease, you will just be under mild and asymptomatic)," he added.

According to Roque, those who will receive the CoronaVac shots will have an 80-percent chance of not needing to visit a doctor in case they still catch COVID-19 and a 100-percent chance of not getting hospitalized.

"So we are recommending it because what we want is to avoid deaths and serious illnesses," he said.

"Kaya po natin gagamitin 'yan (We are using that) because it's better than no protection. As I said, ang iniiwasan natin ay ang pagkakasakit nang seryoso o 'di kaya naman ay nakamamatay (we're trying to prevent critical cases)," he added.

The Palace official also said that the 50.4-percent efficacy rate will not deter the public from getting the CoronaVac jab.

"Bakit naman hindi tatanggapin ang bakuna na magbibigay ng kasiguraduhan na hindi ka mamamatay sa COVID-19? Tingin ko naman tatanggapin 'yan ng taumbayan (Why won't they accept a vaccine that will give them the assurance that they will not die from COVID-19)?" Roque said.

"Mas mabuti po talagang magkaroon tayo ng proteksyon kaysa wala po tayong proteksyon (It's really better that we have protection against COVID-19 than none at all)," he added.

The first batch of CoronaVac vaccines is expected to arrive this month.

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