MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The Philippines received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, among the last in Southeast Asia to secure critical doses, despite having the second highest number of coronavirus infections and deaths in the hard-hit region. .
A Chinese military transport aircraft with 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 vaccine from Sinovac Biotech Ltd., based in China, in a ceremony broadcast on television.
“COVID-19 vaccines must be treated as a global public good and made available to everyone, rich and poor,” said Duterte, warning that “no one is safe until everyone is safe.”
China’s ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, said that 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 in solidarity when the crisis occurs .
The initial vaccination of health professionals and senior officials led by the secretary of health was scheduled to begin at six metropolitan hospitals in Manila on Monday.
In addition to the donated Sinovac vaccine, the government separately ordered 25 million doses from the China-based company. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the delivery of 525,600 initial doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, initially scheduled for Monday, would be delayed for a week due to supply problems.
Initial deliveries are a small fraction of at least 148 million doses that the government has negotiated to ensure that Western and Asian companies vaccinate some 70 million Filipinos for free in a massive campaign. Most vaccine shipments are expected to arrive later this year.
The Philippines reported more than 576,000 infections, including 12,318 deaths, the second highest total in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia. Quarantine blocks and restrictions have damaged Manila’s economy in one of the region’s worst recessions and have led to unemployment and hunger.
Duterte’s administration has been criticized for falling behind most other Southeast Asian countries when it comes to securing vaccines, including much smaller and poorer countries like Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.
The tough guy Duterte said that wealthy western countries have achieved massive doses for their citizens, leaving the poorest nations to fight for the rest. In a sign of despair, the president said last December that he would repeal an important security pact with the United States that allows large numbers of American troops to conduct war exercises in the Philippines if Washington cannot provide at least 20 million doses. Vaccine for covid19.
“Without a vaccine, don’t stay here,” said Duterte then.
Delivery of the Chinese vaccine has been delayed due to the absence of an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration of Manila. Sinovac obtained the authorization last Monday. Western pharmaceutical companies also wanted the Philippine government to ensure that it would take responsibility for lawsuits and claims for damages resulting from possible adverse side effects of the vaccine, officials said.
In addition to supply problems, there are concerns about the vaccine’s safety, largely due to the scare of the dengue vaccine that prompted the Duterte administration to stop a massive immunization campaign in 2017.
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Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.