Coronavirus vaccination rollout
The Philippines is the last to launch the Covid-19 vaccination among ASEAN countries with 600,000 donated doses of Sinovac, which represent 0.4 percent of 140 million doses to immunize 70 million Filipinos to attain herd immunity.
When the vaccines made in China were delivered, almost 95 percent of the registrants backed out.
They were expecting to be jabbed with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which has a 95 percent efficacy, not with Sinovac with only 50.4 percent efficacy rate.
Doctors say that Sinovac should undergo appraisal by the Health Technology Assessment Council before being administered.
While we await for other vaccines to arrive, it is worthwhile to invest in vaccine development in our country for humans and animals as a step towards vaccine independence.
Viruses are here to stay throughout our lives. New strains and mutants will emerge for us to manage ourselves. — PERCIVAL B. ALIPIT, Baguio City