{"id":255454,"date":"2020-05-20T04:51:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T08:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=255454"},"modified":"2020-05-20T04:51:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T08:51:05","slug":"govt-ensures-aid-once-covid-19-vaccine-is-available","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/20\/govt-ensures-aid-once-covid-19-vaccine-is-available\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov\u2019t ensures aid once Covid-19 vaccine is available"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque gave the assurance a day after President Rodrigo Duterte expressed his intent to immediately purchase a vaccine for Covid-19, as soon as it is developed. (File photo: Presidential Photo via PNA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Wednesday vowed that the government would provide free vaccines to the disadvantaged, once a cure for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is available.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque gave the assurance a day after President Rodrigo Duterte expressed his intent to immediately purchase a vaccine for Covid-19, as soon as it is developed.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWell,\u00a0alam niyo po siguro, ang mangyayari diyan<\/em>, those who can afford\u00a0ay magba-bayad,<\/em>\u00a0those who cannot afford,\u00a0gobyerno ang magba-bayad<\/em>\u00a0(Well, perhaps, those who can afford the vaccine that will be developed have to shoulder the cost, while the government will pay for the vaccination of those who cannot afford it),\u201d Roque said in an interview with morning show Unang Hirit.<\/p>\n

He explained that individuals who are not covered by free vaccines could avail of assistance from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).<\/p>\n

\u201cKapag mga bakuna, mga<\/em>\u00a0diagnostic,\u00a0sagot din po iyan ng<\/em>\u00a0PhilHealth (PhilHealth will shoulder expenses for vaccines and diagnostics),\u201d he said. \u201cPupwedeng ma-cover naman iyan ng PhilHealth (That can be covered by PhilHealth).\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte, in a public address aired on state-run PTV-4 late Tuesday night, expressed optimism that a vaccine for Covid-19 would be available by early 2021.<\/p>\n

The President expressed such hope as he acknowledged that clinical trials for an experimental vaccine being developed by the United States\u2019 biotech firm Moderna, Inc. were showing \u201cpositive\u201d results.<\/p>\n

Roque reiterated that the government is ready to implement an immunization plan once a Covid-19 vaccine is developed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeron na po tayong nabuong plano kung paano talaga i<\/em>-implement\u00a0ang<\/em>\u00a0vaccination as soon as it (Covid-19 crisis) is over (We have come up with a concrete plan as to how we will implement the vaccination program as soon as the crisis is over),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque said the government would give priority to individuals who belong to the vulnerable sector, such as senior citizens and individuals with health risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re praying\u00a0po na unang-una, magkaroon na ng bakuna, at pangalawa<\/em>, we\u2019re praying\u00a0na mabibigay natin sa lahat<\/em>\u00a0(We\u2019re praying that first and foremost, we will have a vaccine, and second, we\u2019re praying that all can avail of it),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There is currently no cure or vaccine for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

However, clinical trials are ongoing to determine the safety and effectiveness of new and existing drugs, such as anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-malarial agents, in treating Covid-19 patients.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners earlier launched the \u201cSolidarity Trial\u201d, an international clinical trial, to help find an effective treatment for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

The Philippines\u2019 participation in the WHO Solidarity Trial has been approved by the Single Joint Research Ethics Board in support of the Covid-19 global response.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Wednesday vowed that the government would provide free vaccines to the disadvantaged, once a cure for the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":253412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255456,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255454\/revisions\/255456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}