The arrival of the first batch of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines to the Philippines should be matched with sustained and systematic rollout of the immunization program, senators said on Monday.
"The euphoria over the first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccines should be matched with a clear sight on a systematic rollout of the inoculation process," Senator Grace Poe said in a statement on March 1, as the country started the inoculations of health workers in government hospitals as well as medical personnel in the police and military.
Senator Joel Villanueva also said that "today’s events shouldn’t be seen as a mere symbolic start but as the start of something sustained, without let up, and in numbers increasing by the week."
"For that is how we can meaningfully mark the first year of the lockdown on March 15, by demonstrating our will to end COVID’s reign of terror, one injection at a time," he said.
The senators also said the vaccinations would recognize and honor health workers, who have been in the frontlines in the fight against the pandemic since it started last year.
"We can honor them more by providing them with more vaccines to choose from which our government should provide them and our people," Villanueva said
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto likewise said in a separate statement: "' government should match frontliners' heroism with vaccine offensive."
"That it was given to Dr. Gap Legaspi, ground commander of the biggest COVID-19 hospital, only underscores the moral responsibility of this government to support the continuing heroism of our frontliners with a vaccine offensive," he added.
Recto said "it is also government’s duty to broaden the vaccine source," saying the vaccines should not only be sourced from a single country.
"The vaccines have arrived as we are letting our people go out of their towns freely. Our vaccine arsenal should then grow as fast as we are allowing people to move around unrestricted. Without vaccines, the virus will be faster and smarter than us," he said.
Poe, for her part, pressed for the inclusion of public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers in the priority for the vaccination drive.
"Let us not forget our PUV drivers and others workers in the transportation sector, who are key to our economic comeback. Over the past months under lockdown, transportation workers have been the lifeline of our communities," she said.
Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel, meanwhile, said the Philippines should thank Chinese govenrment for giving its first vaccine supply.
"We should thank the donor," he told reporters when asked to comment on the rollout of the COVID-19 immunization program.
In starting its nationwide immunization program Monday, the government is using the 600,000 Sinovac vaccines doses donated by the government of China. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not recommend it for use of health workers treating COVID-19 patients, as well as senior citizens.
The Philippines is also waiting for delivery of 525,600 vaccine doses for India-based firm AztraZeneca which was secured from the World Health Organization-led COVAX Facility. It's arrival was initially set for Monday noon, but was delayed for another week according to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the delay was because of the shortage in global supply.