The Philippines receives the first dose of the Chinese "Coronavac" vaccine

Yesterday, Sunday, the Philippines received 600,000 doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccine sent by China, which will allow the start of the vaccination campaign in the country, despite concerns about the effectiveness of the Coronavac vaccine.

A number of senior government officials and health workers will be the first to receive this vaccine on Monday, a week after receiving urgent approval from the Philippine Medicines Regulatory Authority.

The government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been criticized for delays in securing vaccines.

Duterte was present when receiving vaccines at a military air base.

The country is also awaiting the arrival of about 525 thousand doses of the British Swedish group AstraZeneca vaccine within the framework of the Kovacs program established by the World Health Organization and the Alliance for Vaccines (GAVI) with other partners to distribute vaccines in poor countries.

But Health Minister Francisco Duque announced that this delivery would be delayed by a week due to problems with deliveries around the world.

The Philippine Medicines Authority had not initially recommended the use of the Coronavac vaccine for health care workers due to its low effectiveness compared to other vaccines.

However, an advisory group providing advice to the government has allowed it to be used by those wishing to do so.

However, many health care providers prefer to wait for other vaccines to arrive.

At the Philippine General Hospital, which is one of the main institutions that receive Covid-19 patients, only 10% of staff want to receive the Coronavac vaccine, a spokesperson for the Jonas Del Rosario medical facility told AFP.

For comparison, 94% had registered to receive the Pfizer / Biontech vaccine, according to Del Rosario, who also chose not to receive the Coronavac vaccine.

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