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The country’s vaccination machinery started to be tested on Monday, March 1, with positive and negative reactions to the Sinovac jabs, while there are already some signs that the country could be starting to get out of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) rut.  

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The  drug  problem in the country was in the news again last week. This time, however, the news was not about so many killed in police  raids or the huge amounts of drugs seized. It was about a ”misencounter” between the men of two government agencies – the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)  and the Quezon City Police District  of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

It’s all about the Sinovac vaccination on Monday, March1, as the Philippines rolls out its national vaccination program with the first batch of inoculations in different government hospitals.

Rockspeed Elevator and Escalator Corporation, distributor of leading brand Fuji Elevator Company of Japan, enters into an agreement with ACE Medical Center Group of Hospitals, to supply lifts for all of its hospitals to better serve patients confined in their medical centers throughout the country. The Ace Group of Medical Centers now owns 26 hospitals nationwide.

The Fight Illicit Trade (Fight IT) Movement has called on the government to tighten the noose on illicit cigarette traders as it expressed alarm over the rising cases of fake cigarettes being sold around the country.

The Coconut Levy Act that President Duterte recently signed, and which seeks to create a trust fund for coconut farmers through the sale of assets procured through the coco levy fund, would benefit the country’s 3.5 million coconut farmers from 68 coconut producing provinces, who have owned no more than five hectares for the last 10 years, said Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food.

In what put a damper on a state of euphoria the country felt over the arrival of the first batch of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines from China, now comes the frustrating news that the arrival of the more than 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca jabs that were supposed to arrive Monday will be delayed for a week.

Prime Minister  Yoshihide Suga of Japan has added a “Minister for Loneliness”  to his cabinet in the wake of a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years. “The number of suicides is on a rising trend. I hope you will identify  problems and promote policy  measures comprehensively,” the prime minster told his appointee to the new position  —  Tetsushi  Sakamoto.

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The wheels of hope have started to grind for the Philippines with the arrival of the first batch of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines, setting into motion the national vaccination program that gains further momentum with the arrival of AstraZeneca vaccines on Monday, March 1.

Could this be the beginning of the end?

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We have in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN ) a tradition of non-interference in the local affairs of our fellow ASEAN nations. Over the centuries, these nations have gone through different historical experiences. Their only common bond, it seems, is that they occupy these same geographical area on the planet.

Filipinos will have to bear with another month of community quarantine even as the first batch of the coronavirus vaccines is expected to arrive in the country this weekend.

Everything is starting to fall into place a day before the Philippines welcomes its first batch of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines, and the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act couldn’t have come at a better time with the number of coronavirus cases on the rise anew.

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Everyone is looking forward to the start of the vaccination program in the Philippines. Until it happens, President Duterte said, the further easing of restrictions in Metro Manila to Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) will not take place despite the consensus of Metro Manila’s mayors that it is time for it.