Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce III said the public should accept any available COVID-19 vaccine as all brands are safe and effective.
He said it has become a common observation in all places that people choose the brand of vaccine that will be administered to them, prompting the Department of Health (DOH) to order that the brand name should not be disclosed in advance.
“All the vaccines are safe and wherever we go, they use different vaccines and these are all effective,” said Ponce during a Facebook Live broadcast Thursday.
He advised Pateros residents that if they are scheduled for vaccination, they should go to the vaccination center.
“Let’s accept the vaccine that is available since it will be difficult if we run out of vaccines,” he said, adding that many of those who were sent text messages opted not to go on their scheduled vaccination date.
Health Usec. Myrna Cabotaje said Wednesday the vaccine brand will no longer be announced and people will only know it at the vaccination site.
“What we are going to enforce now is brand agnostic. Dapat sasabihan lang you go and whatever the vaccine that will be available, you get it. So hindi na i-a-announce na we are now going to give Pfizer, we are now going to give Sinovac, we are now going to give AstraZeneca,” she told CNN Philippines.
The mayor also disclosed that the municipal government is now preparing for the vaccination of A4 priority group, or frontline personnel in essential sectors.
He said the vaccination of A4 group may start next week. Ponce will issue a memorandum to all business establishments and ask them to submit the list of their employees and the nature of their work.
As of May 19, Pateros has 4,276 confirmed COVID-19 cases including 4,057 recoveries and 62 deaths, leaving 157 active cases.