Manila begins vaccine rollout Tuesday

MANILA – Medical front-liners, about 200 of them, will be first in line when Manila starts its vaccine rollout on Tuesday.

The national government delivered about 3,000 doses, good for two doses for 1,500 individuals, of Sinovac vaccines to the city’s Covid-19 Vaccine Storage Facility at the Sta. Ana Hospital on Monday, just a day after the shipment arrived from China.

“Ngayon natanggap na namin yung para sa (Now that we received the share of our) local government hospitals, tomorrow we are going to have vaccination of our medical front-liners,” Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said.

The city government has been preparing for the vaccine rollout for several months now and Moreno hopes everything will turn out as planned.

In accordance with the directives of the national government and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, medical front-liners will receive the vaccines first.

However, Domagoso clarified that they will not be vaccinated with Sinovac if they do not want to.

He said that those who will consent to receive the Sinovac vaccines will be accommodated “while supplies last.”

“Those who will change their mind later on at kung wala namang supply ng bakuna, they would need to wait kaya ako payo ko huwag nilang sayangin yung pagkakataon na meron ng bakuna ngayon dito sa atin sa lungsod na matagal na naman nating inaasam (but if supplies have run out, they must wait again so I recommend that they grab the opportunity to get the vaccines which we have long been waiting for),” Domagoso said.

Domagoso earlier said during a speech at the Philippine General Hospital that he is willing to receive his first dose of the Sinovac jab, just like what some Cabinet officials did during the rollout of the national vaccination program in different hospitals in Metro Manila.

He said he will do it to help boost confidence in the Covid-19 vaccine while continuing to encourage everyone to register for the vaccine availment.

Still, he reminded the public to continue observing minimum health safety protocols such as wearing of masks and face shields, frequent hand sanitation, and observance of safe physical distancing.