Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said on Monday that the city government-owned Sta. Ana Hospital will receive its supply of the COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac on Tuesday, March 2.
Domagoso said around 300 frontline health workers from the said hospital have signified their willingness to get inoculated with the CoronaVac jabs.
He reiterated that he is also ready to be inoculated with CoronaVac should there be any supply left after they have vaccinated the city’s health workers.
“Pagkatapos mabakunahan ang mga medical frontliners, magpapabakuna ako ng Sinovac. Magpapabakuna ako ng bakuna na available sa lalong madaling panahon kapag kami ay pinayagan ng regulasyon (After the medical frontliners are vaccinated, I will get the Sinovac jab. I will get vaccinated with a vaccine available and if allowed by the regulatory agencies),” he said.
“We will get vaccinated para mahati ko kahit paano ang inyong pangamba. Samahan ko kayo sa inyong pangamba, sasama tayo sa pangamba niyo. Let us save lives,” he added.(I will share half of your apprehension. I will join you and help lessen your fear.)
The Manila mayor was among several government officials who attended the symbolic administration of CoronaVac vaccines at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) on Monday, March 1.
This was a day after 600,000 CoronaVac vaccines that were donated by China arrived in the Philippines.
In a press briefing, he said he hopes that seeing public figures, including Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director Eric Domingo, and health workers get vaccinated will convince more Manileños to get inoculated.
“I think this will help our fellow Manileños to decide later on, today or tomorrow na si DG Domingo, na direktor ng FDA na siyang nag-sertipika... sinertipikihan 'yong Sinovac as safe at nakakuha ng EUA ay siya ring nagbakuna sa sarili niya (that DG Domingo who is the director of FDA who certified Sinovac as safe for use and issued it ann EUA also vaccinated himself),” he said.
“Naniniwala kami sa sistema that the FDA did its job and due diligence was practiced in giving EUA to this vaccine that we are utilizing,” he added.
PGH Director Gerardo Legaspi was the first to receive the CoronaVac jab on Monday. During the press briefing, he said around 96 health workers were also vaccinated within the hour of the vaccine rollout.
Domagoso encouraged residents of the city to get vaccinated as soon as possible amid concerns about CoronaVac’s supposed low efficacy rate.
“Huwag na natin ipangibabaw ang sinasabi ng iilan. Ang patuloy nating paniwalaan ay ang sistema (Let us not pay attention to what a few people are saying. Let us continue to believe in the system), that the system will work. Yes, it may have shortcomings, but we as Filipinos must continue to believe in the system,” he said.
“Huwag natin sayangin 'yung opportunity na hindi tayo mabakunahan at madadagdagan ang ating panlaban ng ating katawan kung sakaling tayo ay ma-impeksyon (Let us not waste the opportunity that we will not get vaccinated and that we will not get additional protection against the virus),” he added.