PRESIDENT Duterte on Sunday, February 28, 2021, took some time off to personally welcome the arrival of the 600,000 doses of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine, ‘Sinovac,’ donated by the government of the People’s Republic of China.
A huge military transport plane from China carrying the vaccines committed to the Philippines by Chinese President Xi Jinping, landed at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City, late in the afternoon where it was welcomed by the President, members of his Cabinet, Sen. Christopher Lawrence ‘Bong’ Go and Chinese ambassador, HE Huang Xilian.
The donation is actually more than the original 500,000 doses of vaccines earlier promised by China to the Philippines and the first to arrive in the country despite the earlier ‘commitment’ of ‘Big Pharma’ and other Western countries during discussions with Philippine officials last year.
The arrival of the vaccines is expected to finally jumpstart the government’s ‘National Vaccination Program’ that has been delayed by the non-arrival of Western-made vaccines.
These failed to arrive after European countries decided to practice ‘vaccine nationalism’ by prioritizing first their nationalities and cornering about 70 percent of the current available global supplies made by their Big Pharma.
The Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia that is yet to start vaccinating its citizens because of this development.
In his speech, President Duterte give due credit to the Chinese government and Pres. Xi for making good his promise of help to the Philippines in battling the pandemic that has already claimed the lives of over 12,000 Filipinos while downing more than 500,000 victims thus far.
Taking a pot shot at his critics and those perennially biased against China, Pres. Duterte said these groups would have to “wait” if they don’t want to be inoculated with Sinovac.
The Chief Executive also assured that he is willing to be vaccinated but is still waiting the advise of his personal doctor, considering that he is already 77 years old.
Amb. Huang, for his part, said he is “delighted” to personally hand over to Pres. Duterte his country’s donation, as he also acknowledged the effort of both sides “who have been working round the clock to make it (donation) happen.”
Amb. Huang also assured the safety and efficacy of Sinovac, noting that “tens of millions of people in China and a host of countries have been inoculated with Chinese vaccines, and their efficacy and effectiveness have been well tested and proven.”
“No winter lasts forever, every spring is sure to follow,” Amb. Huang said.
“I hope that the Philippines would beat the virus and embrace economic recovery and normal life at an early date.”
‘World should thank China’
During last Friday’s ‘Meet the Press/Report to the Nation’ media forum of the National Press Club (February 26, 2021), Dr. Lulu Bravo, head of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination and, Dr. Nina Gloriani, head of the vaccine expert panel under the Department of Science and Technology, also lashed at those propagating the opinion that vaccines made by China are not effective against the virus.
In fact, Bravo said, the world “owes” China a debt of gratitude over the latter’s decision to release to the world early last year the ‘DNA sequence’ of COVID-19 that enabled Big Pharma, like Pfizer, to produce mRNA-based vaccines that are now being touted as more than 90 percent “effective” against it.
Gloriani, for her part, stressed that the purported 50 percent efficacy of Sinovac when tested in Brazil last year was propagated in the wrong context.
She noted that during ‘stage 3’ trials in Turkey and Indonesia using a mix group of medical frontliners and the public, the vaccine registered an efficacy rate of more than 91 percent and 67 percent, respectively.
Both added the arrival of Sinovac would now give the country the opportunity to test its efficacy on Filipinos as there is still no clinical data available in the country.