Duque asks public to avoid worrying about Covid vaccines safety, efficacy

MANILA: Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III (pic) on Wednesday assured the public that all the vaccines against Covid-19 that will be used in the country are safe and effective.

During a review of Taguig City’s vaccination plan,  Duque noted that the Food and Drug Administration, Health Technology Assessment Council, Vaccine Expert Panel, and the Department of Science and Technology have reviewed these vaccines.

Earlier, Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said that more than 1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines are expected to be delivered in February for the Philippine vaccination programme rollout.

These vaccine products are from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Sinovac.

Duque, moreover, noted that recipients will also undergo medical screening before receiving the shot to evaluate if they can continue with the vaccination considering their co-morbidities, medication, and allergy.

After the jabs, recipients will be placed under monitoring in case they experience side effects of the vaccine. 

Only one out of four of Metro Manila residents are willing to get themselves vaccinated against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). A survey of the Octa Research showed that only 25 percent of people in the National Capital Region are willing to get vaccinated against the disease.

On the other hand, Pulse Asia’s survey showed that 47 percent of Filipinos were not inclined to get a Covid-19 jab, mostly due to safety reasons.

Experts from the World Health Organisation said that 65 percent to 70 percent of population needs to get vaccinated to reach herd immunity from the disease. According to the WHO, herd immunity or population immunity is a concept used for vaccination in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached.

Due to the low level of confidence of the public with Covid-19 vaccines, the DOH launched an information campaign to encourage Filipinos to get inoculated.

President Rodrigo Duterte was earlier urged to receive the first shot of Covid-19 vaccine to boost public trust. Also, Vice President Leni Robredo was willing to get vaccinated in public in response to a challenge posed by Duterte’s long-time aide, Senator Bong Go, according to her spokesman Atty. Barry Gutierrez.

Later, Malacañang said Duterte would take a Covid-19 vaccine but that his inoculation process would not be televised.