A supply of COVID-19 vaccines from Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac arrived at the Sta. Ana Hospital in Manila on Monday, March 1.
Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso said the vaccine supply is enough for 1,500 people. Frontline health workers of the Manila city government are on top of the priority list.
The city government is targeting to vaccinate 200 people when it rolls out its own vaccination program using the CoronaVac vaccines on Tuesday, March 2.
"Tomorrow, we're going to have a vaccination drive with regard to our medical frontliners," Domagoso told reporters. "Hopefully, maging suave 'yung bakunahan bukas nitong Sinovac (the vaccination process with Sinovac goes smoothly)."
The vaccines were stored at the Manila COVID-19 Vaccine Storage Facility at the 7th floor of Sta. Ana Hospital.
The supply of vaccines arrived on the same day that the Philippines began its vaccination drive at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), Lung Center of the Philippines, Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center and Sanitarium, Veterans Memorial Medical Center, Philippine National Police General Hospital, and Victoriano Luna Medical Center.
The Manila mayor said seeing public figures such as Food and Drug Administration Director Eric Domingo, PGH Director Gerardo Legaspi, and National Task Force against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., among others, getting vaccinated may have eased the fears of frontline health workers on the supposed low efficacy rate of the CoronaVac vaccines.
"I think these people, 'yung mga taong nabanggit natin, ay malaking inspirasyon sa ibang tao (the people that I mentioned, are big inspirations to other people)," he said.
Domagoso also reaffirmed that he will inoculate himself with the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine should there be any supplies left after the vaccination drive for the city's health workers.
"Pinangako ko 'yon sa taumbayan na I will submit myself, katulad ng ginawa nila sa national government (I promised the public that I will submit myself, the same way that those from the national government did)," he said.
Around 600,000 CoronaVac doses donated by the government of China arrived in the Philippines on Feb. 28.