Malacañang said Sinovac's CoronaVac coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine will not be given to senior citizens as one million doses of the said vaccine arrived in the country on Monday.
In his Monday presser, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the bulk of the procured vaccines will be allocated to the areas with a high number of COVID-19 infections.
"Hindi po pupwede sa senior citizens (It will not be given to senior citizens)," he said.
"Pero ang bulto po niyan, dito pa rin sa NCR-plus, Cebu, at Davao. Ito po ay gagamitin sa health professionals at doon po sa with comorbidities (But the bulk of that shipment will be going to the NCR-plus, Cebu, and Davao. These will be used on health professionals and those with comorbidities)," he added
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended giving the Sinovac vaccine to healthy individuals aged 18 to 59.
Meanwhile, Roque said the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) was considering inoculating the Priority Group A4 with CoronaVac and was already identifying the groups of people who fall under the said category.
The government recently approved the simultaneous implementation of the vaccination program on the A1 group and A2 and A3 for the quick substitution list.
The National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) adopted the following priority population groups for vaccination:
· A1: Frontline workers in health facilities both national and local, private and public, health professionals and non-professionals like students, nursing aides, janitors, barangay health workers, etc.
· A2: Senior citizens aged 60 years old and above
· A3: Persons with comorbidities not otherwise included in the preceding categories
· A4: Frontline personnel in essential sectors including uniformed personnel and local chief executives, and those in working sectors identified by the IATF as essential during ECQ
· A5: Indigent population not otherwise included in the preceding categories
· B1: Teachers, Social Workers
· B2: Other Government Workers
· B3: Other essential workers
· B4: Socio-demographic groups at significantly higher risk other than senior citizens and indigenous people
· B5: Overseas Filipino Workers
· B6: Other Remaining Workforce
· C: The rest of the Filipino population not otherwise included in the above groups
The government started vaccinating healthcare workers on March 1 and has so far vaccinated 656,331 individuals.