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Scepticism over China’s Sinovac jab as Philippines rolls out coronavirus vaccination programme
- Directors of Philippine General Hospital and Food and Drug Agency among first to receive one of 600,000 doses donated by China
- 95 per cent of hospital staff said to oppose the jab, while both President Rodrigo Duterte and Health Secretary Francisco Duque say they are too old for it
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The Philippines began its long-stalled coronavirus vaccination programme on Monday, amid a spike in infections and public resistance to the use of a Chinese developed vaccine.
Images of the head of the top state hospital receiving the first shot of one of the 600,000 Sinovac vaccines, which have been donated by China and arrived in the country on Sunday, were beamed live on the state television channel PTV to much fanfare.
After his jab Gerardo Legazpi, the director of Philippine General Hospital, appealed to colleagues and the public to “separate the vaccine from our politics … and the [Duterte] administration” and get vaccinated.
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The Philippines is one of the last countries in Southeast Asia to secure its vaccine supply, despite being among the hardest hit by the pandemic, with more than 578,000 infections and over 12,000 deaths. (Indonesia, with 1.3 million infections and over 36,000 deaths, is the only regional country to have fared worse).
The Philippines has reported more than 2,000 cases daily for the past five days and its positivity rate – the number of people infected as a percentage of those tested – recently breached 7 per cent for the first time since October, local media has reported.
While the roll-out of the vaccines promises some relief, experts warn the government must overcome public scepticism over the Chinese developed vaccine if it is to be successful.
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