A consumer advocacy group has identified racism as one of the main challenges of the country’s ongoing rollout of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine.

"Xenophobia and racism, not lack of Science, are causing distrust to the vaccine rollout," Alyansa ng mga Grupong Haligi ng Agham at Teknolohiya Para sa Mamamayan (AGHAM) President Angelo Palmones told the Manila Bulletin Sunday, March 7.

"Unfortunately, even some medical frontliners appear to have similar mindset," noted the former Congress.

A China-made vaccine, CoronaVac by pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech Ltd., was the first COVID-19 vaccine to reach the Philippines for purposes of mass inoculation. Some 600,000 vials of the jab were donated by the Chinese government to Filipinos late last month.

As per the government's vaccination plan, medical or healthcare frontline workers are top priority for the vaccines.

Asked who Palmones was referring to in his remarks, he said, "Some of the medical frontliners of Marikina who refuse Sinovac." He didn't specify further.

"I hope media will continue (to be an) unbiased player in conveying the real benefits of every available vaccine for the Filipino," he added.

Some 487,200 vials from British-Swede drugmaker AstraZeneca and University of Oxford in England have also since been flown in to the country. This means that the Philippines--a country with one of the longest lockdowns in the pandemic --now has over one million doses of the sought-after vaccines.

Palmones pointed out to this reporter that the research team behind AstraZeneca-Oxford in the United Kingdom (UK) were also composed of Chinese nationals.

The AGHAM president looked forward to the day that COVID-19 vaccines are fully commercialized like any other medicine so it may reach more Filipinos.

"Physical distancing, basic hygiene and wearing of facemask, properly, must become a way of life in the Philippines even after the commercialization of COVID vaccines to prevent new mutations," he said.