MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The Philippines received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, one of the last in Southeast Asia to achieve critical doses, despite having the second highest number of infections and deaths from coronavirus in the most affected region.
A Chinese military transport plane carrying 600,000 doses of vaccine donated by China arrived at an air base in the capital. President Rodrigo Duterte and senior cabinet officials expressed relief and thanked Beijing for the China-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine in a televised ceremony.
“COVID-19 vaccines must be treated as a global public good and made available to everyone, both rich and poor,” Duterte said, warning that “no one is safe until everyone is safe.” .
China’s ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, said China has exported vaccines to 27 countries despite its own domestic needs, adding that “no winter lasts forever” when China and other countries help each other. each other when the crisis occurs.
Initially vaccinations of health workers and senior officials led by the health secretary were scheduled to begin Monday at six Manila metropolitan hospitals.
Apart from the vaccine given by Sinovac, the government has separately ordered 25 million doses from the China-based company. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said delivery of 525,600 initial doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that was initially scheduled for Monday would be delayed by a week due to supply problems.
Initial deliveries are a small fraction of at least 148 million doses that the government has been negotiating to ensure Western and Asian companies vaccinate nearly 70 million Filipinos for free in a massive campaign. Most vaccine shipments are expected to arrive later this year.
The Philippines has reported more than 576,000 infections, including 12,318 deaths, the second-highest total in Southeast Asia after Indonesia. Blockades and quarantine restrictions have pushed Manila’s economy back into one of the worst recessions in the region and caused unemployment and hunger.
The Duterte administration has been criticized for lagging behind most other Southeast Asian countries in securing vaccines, including much smaller, poorer ones such as Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.
Tough Duterte has said rich Western countries have swept massive doses to their citizens, leaving the poorest nations fighting for the rest. In desperation, the president said last December that he would repeal a key security pact with the United States that would allow a large number of U.S. troops to conduct war exercises in the Philippines if Washington did not could provide at least 20 million doses of covid vaccine19.
“No vaccine, no stay here,” Duterte said then.
Delivery of the Chinese vaccine was delayed due to the absence of an emergency use permit from the Manila Food and Drug Administration. Sinovac obtained permission last Monday. Western pharmaceutical companies also wanted the Philippine government to guarantee that it would take responsibility for claims and compensation claims arising from possible adverse side effects of the vaccine, officials said.
Aside from supply problems, there have been concerns about vaccine safety, mainly due to a dengue vaccine scare that caused the Duterte administration to stop a massive boost in vaccination in 2017.
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Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.