More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
The government is quickly compiling lists of who should be first to get the vaccine when it arrives. The AFP says they must be first in line.
The country's military chief said he is giving way for other sectors, especially front-liners, to get inoculated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines first before he himself gets vaccinated.
"Well much as I wanted to get the vaccination first but (you) have to understand that there are other sectors that direly need more than me, so it is right that the 25 percent of our troops come first, then our front-liners," said Armed Forces of the Philippines chief, Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana in an interview with One News' The Chiefs Wednesday night.
Sobejana was referring to the 25 percent of the AFP troops who will be vaccinated once the first doses of the vaccines arrive in the country.
These troops are tasked to conduct security operations to protect the areas for vaccinations.
Also included are those involved in the delivery and transportation of these vaccines to the cold storage and vaccinations areas and those assigned to medical support operations.
First the troops then the front liners. It seems this is because the troops will be tasked with protecting the vaccine. Whoever gets the vaccine first there will certainly be disagreements. Someone has to go first. It's certainly not going to be me or you.
One local Bishop says getting vaccinated is an act of charity.
Bishop Julito Cortes of the Diocese of Dumaguete has called on the lay faithful to cooperate with the local government units (LGUs) and avail of the vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) as an act of charity to one’s neighbor as the Christian world begins the season of Lent.
“A concrete act of charity which could be asked of us in this critical time is to say ‘yes’ to the Covid-19 vaccination, not only for our protection but for the protection of our loved ones and our community,” he said in his homily during a concelebrated Ash Wednesday Holy Mass at the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria here.
A more concrete act of charity would be for governments and vaccine makers to be forthright about the dangers of the vaccine. It has been developed too quickly and people have died from taking it. The submissive response of the Roman church is very different from those in the Orthodox church.
The UK variant of the virus was found last month in a small mountain town but now 2 more variants have been found in Cebu.
The Department of Health (DOH) Region 7 on Thursday announced that the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) detected two coronavirus “mutations of concern” in samples from Cebu.
DOH 7 spokesperson Dr. Mary Jean Loreche said 37 of 50 samples sequenced by the PGC showed the mutations E484K and N501Y in SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
She added that 29 out of the 50 samples had a co-occurrence of the two mutations.
“These two mutations of concern are actually of global concern also. Hindi siya atin lang talaga. This is of global concern because, apparently, these are the mutations that are related to increased transmissibility,” she said in a briefing.
"Increased transmissibility." Hopefully it does not spread but we shall see.
The re-opening of cinemas has been put on hold but just in case it happens there are now new protocols in place.
Once cinemas in the country reopen in March a year after the country started implementing quarantine measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, moviegoers should follow health protocols and precautionary measures, a Department of Health official said Thursday.
(Cinemas should not be filled to capacity. Eating should not be allowed. Calls should not be answered or phones should be turned off. And you should not use the restroom in the cinema as much as possible. With these, we can lower the risk.)
All moviegoers should wear masks as well, he added.
Tayag gave the advice as the government allowed the re-opening of cinemas beginning March 1 amid concerns raised by mayors and experts.
These are things that should always happen in the movie theater! No cell calls, don't get up and move around for any reason, and no eating! I don't much care to eat popcorn and drink soda at the movies because I don't want to have to get up and go to the bathroom and miss the show.
Here's a story that's not very encouraging.
A returning Filipino worker from the United Arab Emirates, who had already received shots of COVID-19 vaccine, tested positive for the coronavirus upon arrival in Mandaue City, according to the Department of Health (DOH) in Central Visayas.
Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, DOH regional spokesperson, said the male overseas Filipino worker (OFW) received two doses of the Chinese-made Sinopharm on Dec. 12, 2020, and on Jan. 2. He arrived in Cebu province on Jan. 5 and completed the quarantine on Jan. 20.
This guy received the Chinese vaccine and still got the virus! That does not inspire any confidence in the vaccine Duterte prefers.
The Philippines was expecting to open up to MGCQ in March. Many think this is a good idea. The DILG says this will harmonize travel rules.
Putting the entire country under the most relaxed COVID-19 quarantine status starting March would result in the needed harmonization of local government units' travel policies, an official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government said Saturday.
“The people are confused about travel regulations because they vary from province to province. While some LGUs require a Travel Authority, some do not. Some LGUs require Anti-gen test, some do not. Some LGUs require PCR tests, some do not. Some even require 14-day quarantine regardless of PCR result. We need the regulations to be streamlined and placing the country under one classification would help in the on-going harmonization,” said Malaya.
“We need to take a hard look if the regulations we impose are consistent with scientific data on prevention of COVID-19 transmission,” he added.
Have they not been looking at their regulations to see if they were consistent with scientific data on preventing transmission of the virus? It's a weird statement to make.
Some health experts are against the lifting of restrictions saying that a spike in cases could occur. The Palace says the Philippines is ready to deal with such a spike.
The Philippines is ready should coronavirus infections surge if President Rodrigo Duterte approves a call of his aides to ease quarantine levels across the country, Malacañang said on Monday.
As Duterte studies a proposal for modified general community quarantine, the loosest of 4 lockdown levels, about 62 percent of hospital beds remain ready to take in patients with COVID-19, said Palace spokesman Harry Roque.
(It's true that cases may spike, but it is also true that we are ready.)
He said not all cases of COVID-19 would cause severe symptoms.
(We are weighing that against the number of those who are starving because many sectors of the economy remain closed.)
Metro Manila, the Cordilleras and 6 other areas are under GCQ this February. Mayors of the capital region and the task force leading the country's COVID-19 response have agreed on easing quarantine curbs in March, Roque said last week.
However, the OCTA Research Group warned that if Metro Manila is under MGCQ and hit by the same variant that affected Cebu City, it would take just 36 days for the region to return to its COVID-19 situation back in August, when an average of 2,400 cases were reported per day.
However Duterte has given the proposal a thumbs down until vaccines arrive.
President Rodrigo Duterte has thumbed down the proposed shift of the entire Philippines to the most lenient quarantine status while there is still no vaccine rollout, his long-time aide said Monday.
In a statement, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said “the Philippines would not be placed under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) unless there is a rollout of vaccines.”
“The Chief Executive recognizes the importance of re-opening the economy and its impact on people’s livelihoods. However, the President gives higher premium to public health and safety,” he added.
The President also wants vaccination to start “the soonest possible” to allow the country to relax its community quarantine status.
Duterte’s long-time aide and senator Christopher “Bong” Go likewise confirmed the President’s decision.
“No vaccine roll out, no MGCQ [modified general community quarantine] muna – prrd [President Rodrigo Roa Duterte],” Senator Christopher “Bong” Go told reporters in a message.
According to Go, Duterte said shifting to MGCQ is “not to the best interest of the country.”
The President said he “cannot in conscience allow these things to happen [MGCQ, face-to-face classes] and something might get wrong,” Go said.
Further, the senator said Duterte is “confident” that economic managers and Filipinos “will understand the situation.”
It's not in the best interests of the country to get things going again. A lot of others would disagree.
Some cities like
Pasay and Tabuk are going under strict local lockdowns as cases rise.
The Regional Task Force (RTF) Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) and the local government of Tabuk City have placed two villages under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and ordered the testing anew of all residents after the aggressive community testing done in these areas showed a very high positivity rate.
Albert Mogol, RTF Covid-19 chairman and also head of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, on Monday said the local government has locked down Barangays Malinawa and Balawang upon the recommendation of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) that is in charge of the ongoing testing in Kalinga.
Malinawa showed a 33 percent positivity rate while Balawang has 11 percent and both have low test turn-out in the mass testing that the National Task Force (NTF) Covid-19 has initiated.
“Pina-lock down natin sila at pinapaulit ang testing para makuha natin ang totoong sitwasyon doon (we placed the villages under lockdown and we will conduct another testing so that we can see the actual situation there),” Mogol said.
“There might be other Covid-19 positive who were not yet tested,” he added.
It's not a rosy outlook for everyone. Especially not for seniors and health workers!
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday granted emergency use authorization to the COVID-19 vaccine made by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech, but did not recommend it for front-line health workers at high risk of exposure to the coronavirus and for elderly people due to its varying levels of efficacy.
The FDA decision put economic frontline workers and military personnel at the top of the government’s priority list for inoculation with the vaccine donated by China. Soldiers will get 100,000 doses of the 600,000-dose donation expected to arrive this week.
“According to our experts, [Sinovac’s] vaccine is not the best vaccine for them,” Domingo said in a news briefing, referring to the health workers. He said the data showed CoronaVac was only 50.4 percent effective in the high-risk group.
“Therefore, it is not recommended for use in this group,” Domingo said. “That’s better than nothing, but the recommendation of our experts is this is not the best vaccine for [health-care workers],” he added.
What a waste of money! Why spend for this worthless vaccines which won't protect those who need it most? Sinovac contradicted this advice and said the vaccine is ok even though it has a 50% efficacy rate.
Amid the advice of the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration, Sinovac Biotech on Wednesday still recommend that its vaccine be administered on the elderly and health workers exposed to the disease.
“I think generally, Sinovac would recommend, not only for the Philippines but also for other countries using our vaccines that the products should be used among the healthcare workers as well as the elderly,” Sinovac’s general manager Helen Yang said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.
Without directly addressing the FDA’s concerns on administering the vaccine on the elderly and health workers, Yang said that despite the 50.4 percent efficacy rate from the clinical trials in Brazil, the Sinovac vaccine proved that it “can provide 100 percent efficacy on fatal cases and even for moderate cases that need medical assistance.”
“Regarding the Brazil trial, it is the most challenging environment. No one else could have ever conducted [a] trial among healthcare workers who are directly exposed to the Covid-19 virus, in the environment. And even with that challenging environment, our trial still suggests that the vaccine is effective, it’s above 50 percent,” Yang said.
Despite a 50.4% efficacy rate Sinvac declares that their vaccine can provide 100 percent efficacy in fatal and moderate cases! Who could believe such nonsense.
This whole vaccine procurement process has been a debacle.
Government was caught by surprise on the need for an indemnity agreement for COVAX facility's COVID-19 vaccines, a factor that delayed their delivery and effectively, the country's vaccination program, a senior administration official admitted Monday.
An idemnity agreement would free drugmakers from liability in the event of unexpected adverse effects from the jabs as well as put up funds for it, having only been allowed for emergency use.
It would later turn out to be the crucial and final requirement for the vaccines' delivery on top of government already missing out its own indicative date by middle of the month.
"The negotiating team was following up and asking if this is really it and nothing more then suddenly there was the indemnification," he said. " My understanding was we did not know about that. Everything was supposedly in place."
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. told senators in January that an indemnification law is needed to gain access to the doses from COVAX.
A month later, Galvez would say that from their first negotiations with Pfizer, the developers did not ask for it.
But from the moment Galvez appeared at a Senate inquiry to now, no law providing for it has been passed. Only recently did President Rodrigo Duterte also certify as urgent measures for the indemnification, and an agreement was only sent to drugmakers by February 17.
In the same television interview, Nograles said there may have been limitations or "challenges in communication" as an indemnity deal was not mandatory for all countries.
"I wish they had told us that this was a requirement," he said.
"They should have said sooner that 'oh, we can't deliver it without that' or was it an afterthought na because other countries have their own indemnification laws, all countries must have it for this particular brand?"
It seems unlikely they were caught by surprise about the need for an indemnity clause. Elsewhere Galvez is reported to have said the following:
(The vaccine manufacturers are seeking an indemnity agreement because they are frightened of what happened with Dengvaxia where Sanofi was stopped.)
It just does not make sense that these companies would ask for an agreement out of the blue especially with what happened to Sanofi.
Now we end this weekly look at COVID-19 in the Philippines with another scandal that involves government employees taking illegally smuggled vaccines and not even feeling guilty. This admission comes from Ramon Tulfo in an opinion column he wrote for The Manila Times.
During my private meeting with the President in the presence of Senator Go, I handed him my phone and had him talk to the Sinopharm representative in the country.
Digong repeated his request for samples of the vaccine for him and his family.
After the meeting, Palace protocol officer Roberto Borje and Malacañang’s appointments secretary Lisette Marquez met with me in another room.
Borje and Marques agreed to consult vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Eric Domingo on the proper way to obtain the vaccine.
Again, I had Borje talk with the Sinopharm representative, John Boja.
Borje expressed concern that the President might get a fake Sinopharm vaccine, and also over what the dilawan (the opposition) might say.
The Sinopharm representative suggested that the vaccine could be coursed through the Philippine embassy in Beijing or the Chinese embassy in Manila.
Boja, the Sinopharm representative, tried to get in touch with Galvez the following day, but the vaccine czar was unavailable.
“Mon, the call with Galvez and FDA yesterday did not push through. I don’t know why. I messaged Galvez whatever arrangement they decided to let me know so we can ship Sinopharm vaccine. Joseph (surname withheld) has already made arrangements and is just waiting for shipping instructions,” Boja said in a text message.
The importance of acquiring the vaccine for the masses cannot be overemphasized.
People are dying left and right of the coronavirus.
I now confess to the public: I had myself vaccinated — along with some government officials whose names I won’t mention here — with the Sinopharm vaccine last October.
Some members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) were also injected with the same vaccine.
Don’t ask me where I got the vaccine because I will never tell you.
Why did I have myself inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine?
That’s another confession: I have applied to be one of the distributors of the Sinopharm vaccine in the country, that’s why I risked my life to have myself inoculated ahead of the public.
Three weeks after I got the vaccine, I told the President about its lack of troublesome side effects during my visit to him in December last year.
Turning to Go, the President said, “Bong, magpa-injection na rin kaya ako (Bong, why don’t I have myself injected as well)?
Apparently the President’s close aides dissuaded him from doing it, as it would have created repercussions.
It turned out they were right, what with all the ruckus created in the media after it was reported that the PSG soldiers had gotten the vaccine.
His advisers apparently told Digong that the Sinopharm vaccine had not been approved by the FDA and he would be violating protocol if he had himself vaccinated with it.
Here's the breakdown. Tulfo, who is Duterte's envoy to China offered to hook up Duterte with illegally smuggled vaccines through the Chinese embassy. He only turned down the offer because his advisors thought of what the opposition might say and it could be fake. Three weeks after being injected with the illegally smuggled vaccine Ramon calls up Duterte in December and tells him its great. Duterte again considers injecting himself as well but his close aides dissuade him to not do it because there would be repercussions.
That is pretty scandalous. Why did he make these admissions? Nobody compelled him to write this column and implicate Duterte in the procuring of illegal vaccines. Now Tulfo is being investigated.
The Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday they will investigate the inoculation of special envoy to China Mon Tulfo with smuggled COVID-19 jabs.
Tulfo first made the admission that he received smuggled Sinopharm shots last year in a column last Saturday, then in an interview with One News Tuesday. He said he wanted to test the vaccine on himself because he was applying to be a local Sinopharm distributor.
FDA Director General Eric Domingo said the unauthorized vaccination activity will be referred to the agency’s regulatory enforcement unit for investigation.
“We are investigating this because it is not good that we learn that there are individuals who get vaccinated without going through the right process,” Domingo said in a Laging Handa briefing Wednesday.
In a separate briefing, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the ongoing probe into illegal vaccination activities will also include Tulfo.
Agencies launched probes into the Presidential Security Group’s use of unregistered COVID-19 vaccines last year. Domingo said the FDA has yet to receive response from President Rodrigo Duterte’s security detail about their queries.
How did these agencies launch a thorough investigation but totally miss Tulfo's involvement? What kind of investigation did they even do? Surely more scandals will be revealed.
