MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The Philippines received the first batch of COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, among the last in Southeast Asia to provide critical doses, despite having the second highest number of coronavirus infections and deaths from the affected region.
A Chinese military transport plane carrying 600,000 doses of vaccine donated by China has 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. in China in a televised ceremony.
“COVID-19 vaccines should be treated as a global public good and made available to all, rich and poor alike,” Duterte said, warning that “no one is safe until everyone is safe.”
China’s ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, said 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 appears.
The initial vaccinations of health workers and senior officials led by the health secretary were scheduled to begin Monday in six hospitals in Metropolitan Manila.
In addition to the donated Sinovac vaccine, the government has ordered 25 million doses separately from the Chinese company. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the initial delivery of 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, which was originally scheduled for Monday, would be delayed by a week due to supply problems.
The initial deliveries are a small part of the at least 148 million doses the government has negotiated to ensure Western and Asian companies vaccinate about 70 million Filipinos for free in a massive campaign. Most vaccine deliveries 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 blockades and restrictions have put Manila’s economy back in one of the worst recessions in the region and caused unemployment and hunger.
The Duterte administration has been criticized for lagging behind most other Southeast Asian countries in providing vaccines, including much smaller and poorer ones such as Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.
Duterte, who speaks harshly, said rich Western countries have sprouted massive doses for their citizens, leaving poorer nations to fight for the rest. In desperation, the president said in December last year that he would repeal a key security pact with the United States that would allow large numbers of U.S. troops to conduct military exercises in the Philippines if Washington could not provide at least 20 troops. million doses of covid vaccine19.
“Without a vaccine, you don’t stay here,” Duterte said at the time.
The delivery of the Chinese vaccine has been delayed due to the absence of an emergency use authorization from the Manila Food and Drug Administration. Sinovac received the authorization last Monday. Western pharmaceutical companies also wanted the Philippine government to guarantee that it will take responsibility for lawsuits and claims arising from possible side effects of the vaccine, officials said.
In addition to supply problems, there have been concerns about the safety of the vaccine, largely due to the dengue vaccine scare that led the Duterte administration to stop a massive immunization action in 2017.
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Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan of Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to the report.