Vaccine czar ‘hopes’ that normalcy will return to Filipinos by 2023

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As Filipinos await the arrival of the first batch of coronavirus vaccines next month, the Philippines’ vaccine czar estimated that lives will not yet return to ‘normalcy’ for at least two years or 2023.

In a Senate inquiry on the government’s COVID-19 immunization plan, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. stated that a shipment carrying 50,000 doses will be delivered on February 20. He did not specify which brand of vaccine will finally reach the country, but said it’s either from Sinovac, Novavax, or AstraZeneca.

Galvez said they are looking at vaccinating at least two million Filipinos by April. He said Metro Manila, Cebu City, Davao City, and other areas with high attack rates will be prioritized.

Senator Richard Gordon also posed a question as to why the country was late in procuring the vaccines, in the backdrop of neighboring countries already inoculating their citizens at the start of the year. Gordon also inferred the government’s supposed preference for China-developed drug against COVID-19.

“Hindi kaya pinagbibigyan natin ‘yung isa bansa diyan na gusto magbili sa atin? Pero medyo nakaantala ‘yun sa atin dahil umaasa tayo na mabibigyan tayo ng libre,” said Gordon.

[Are we not just waiting for a specific country to sell us their vaccines? But it just delayed our plans because we are expecting that we would be granted free vaccines.]

National Action Plan against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon denied this.

“Hindi po ‘yun ang rason. Wala po tayong policy na pinapaboran ang isang vaccine o isang bansa. Lahat po ng vaccines na safe and effective ay ipu-pursue ng national government, vaccine czar, at vaccine cluster,” said Dizon.

[That’s not the reason. We don’t have a policy which favors a specific vaccine brand or country. All vaccines that are proven safe and effective will be pursued by the national government, the vaccine czar, and the vaccine cluster.]

The country is expected to receive 25 million doses of vaccines from Chinese firm Sinovac this year, with the initial 50,000 doses available as early as February.

In the same hearing, Galvez said he is hopeful that by 2023, normalcy will be restored the lives of Filipinos by 2023.

“It is only through this that we can implement a sustainable immunization program to recover the economy and restore normalcy in the lives of the Filipino people by 2023,” he said.

House committees to hold hearings during break

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Spread the loveMANILA – The House of Representatives has authorized for its committees to conduct hearings during the five-week congressional break, extending until late April.

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