MANILA - The official vaccination in the Philippines against COVID-19 using the CoronaVac vaccines from the Chinese company Sinovac will begin this Monday.
Dr. was first injected with the first authorized vaccine in the country. Gerardo “Gap” Legaspi, director of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila where the ceremonial inauguration of the government’s vaccination program was held.
PGH nurse Chareluck Santos gave Legaspi the vaccine.
Next, infectious disease expert Dr. Edsel Salvana, Food and Drug Administration Director Eric Domingo, and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairperson Benhur Abalos, Jr.
As of 11:45 a.m., up to 105 PGH workers were vaccinated against COVID-19, which has already infected 576,352 in the Philippines.
Apart from PGH, V. Luna Medical Center, Dr. also received vaccine vials. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial (Tala) Hospital, Pasig City General Hospital, Philippine National Police General Hospital and Lung Center of the Philippines.
At Tala Hospital, testing czar Vince Dizon was also vaccinated.
Vaccine car Carlito Galvez previously said that the government targets to vaccinate about 50 million to 70 million Filipinos before the end of the year.
The country wants to achieve “herd immunity,” where the majority of the population can be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.
This Sunday, the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines in the Philippines, the CoronaVac, donated by the Chinese government, arrived in the Philippines.
The 525,600 dose of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is also scheduled to arrive in the Philippines this Monday. But Health Secretary Francisco Duque III announced this Sunday that it will be delayed for another week due to supply problems.
Earlier, last year, the Chinese firm Sinopharm injected COVID-19 vaccine, even without the permission of the Food and Drug Administration, some members of the Presidential Security Group, some members of the Cabinet, columnist Ramon Tulfo and a senator.