DAVAO CITY – Mayor Sara Duterte asked the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to stop sending Sinovac and Sinopharm to Davao City due to the “low acceptability of the people” for these brands of anti-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines produced by China.
Duterte told Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR 87.5) on Monday that vaccine cluster of the Davao City COVID-19 Task Force passed a resolution informing the IATF-EID of the predicament of the city’s vaccine cluster in administering Sinovac and Sinopharm to the public.
She told the national government to focus on procuring more US-made Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.
“We have a moral responsibility to let the IATF know what is happening on the ground. So, we passed a resolution coming from the vaccine cluster informing IATF that there is low acceptability – without offense to Sinopharm and Sinovac – so stop buying and stop sending Sinopharm and Sinovac to vaccination sites,” she said.
She said the vaccination hubs could barely hit their weekly target when the vaccines available are that of China but people are more inclined to get vaccinated when vaccines available are those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
The city government targets to vaccinate 15,000 individuals.
“That was one of the things that came out of the discussion and then we all agreed to let the IATF know. That is what is happening on the ground if they can... shift our purchases to Moderna and Pfizer since it will greatly help in the rollout of our vaccination program,” she said.
As of September 12, the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao reported that Davao Region received a total of 2,578,150 doses of vaccines. Of this total, 1,189,760 doses are from Sinovac’s CoronaVac, 411,180 Oxford AstraZeneca, 599,040 Pfizer’s Comirnaty, 12,300 Gamaleya’s Sputnik V, 143,850 Janssen’s J&J, 121,620 Moderna, and 100,000 Sinopharm.
Duterte, who admitted receiving Sinopharm, encouraged the public to get vaccinated regardless of brands because “time is of the essence” in the pandemic.
As of September 17, the city government reported a total of 672,305 individuals received the first dose of anti-COVID-19 vaccines and 421,852 second doses since vaccination rollout started last March 5.
To hasten the vaccination program, she said the local government is set to open two sites for evening COVID-19 vaccination but details of which have yet to be disclosed.