Taguig will not announce in advance COVID-19 vaccine brand for first dose
Taguig Mayor Lino Cayetano said the city government will follow the order of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in not disclosing in advance the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine brand that will be used for a vaccination center.

“We will abide by the DILG order but for those who will be going for their second dose they need to know what center has their vaccine,” said Cayetano.
He added, “Currently, we have citizens going for their second dose of AstraZeneca and Sinovac, then next week for Gamaleya. So, for second dose purposes, we need to announce but we support the President's call to citizens na huwag mamili ng vaccine brands. All brands protect us 100 percent from severe cases and death.”
The DILG ordered all local government units (LGUs) to stop announcing the vaccine brand that will be used for a particular vaccination site as recommended by the Department of Health (DOH).
This, after large crowds trooped to vaccination centers in different areas in Metro Manila to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with most of them violating social distancing rules.
As of May 19, Taguig has vaccinated 59,160 individuals with the first dose, and 15,878 with the second dose, for a total of 75,038 doses administered. The city government aims to finish vaccinating all 650,000 eligible individuals by December.
“The best vaccine is the one that is available; therefore in order to overcome brand preference, LGUs should not announce the brand of vaccine to be used in vaccination centers,” said Interior Sec. Eduardo Año.
He added, “The person will be informed of the brand in the vaccination center and he will have to give his informed consent but if he refuses, he will have to go back to the back of the line.”
“We need to educate the people in order to overcome brand preference. All FDA-approved vaccines are just Emergency Use Authorization. They are all similarly situated. Our health experts have repeatedly said that there is none that is more effective than the other. All of them prevent hospitalization or critical illness from COVID. That is what is important,” he said.