“AFTER SINOVAC AND ASTRAZENECA, WHAT’S NEXT?”
(Thoughts after the recent vaccines from Sinovac and AstraZeneca,
and how the government treats vaccines as such)
From the first rollout of vaccines from China arrived in the Philippines, vaccinations have begun. From various hospitals, this China-made vaccine, no matter how controversial is is, is simply accepted by the “Task Force Against COVID19” as any other vaccine meant to immunise the folk against this kind of disease.
However, this doesn’t mean the folk simply accept it. Initially, Filipinos have that significant resistance to the Chinese-made CoronaVac. Be it outright rejection to those of skepticism, Filipinos rather "don't just want anything to do with Sinovac" either citing its low efficacy to those of outright rejection of China being a meddler in domestic affairs under the Duterte administration. Quite tragic to some especially that in this time of pandemic most Filipinos rather reject it- all with various claims like "not good enough" for frontliners to those of senior citizens, of being substandard compared to those from the west if not a product of political intrigue or even corruption. And even though it "passes the 50% efficacy threshold established by the World Health Organisation, this doesn't diminish the popular view in preferring western-made vaccines be it AstraZeneca, Moderna, or Johnson and Johnson.
But despite this popular preference to western-made vaccines, the national government continues to encourage the folk to get confident in China-made CoronaVac. Like the earlier statements such as those from the Department of Health telling the folk "that every vaccine that is approved by the FDA is safe and effective", the government's appeal to accept CoronaVac, even to the point that some government officials and a few health workers took the challenge of taking it shows that it shrugs the risks, no matter how people bluntly speaking sees it as a PR ploy for a government that's overhurled by criticism.
It is not surprising that even in a time vaccines from AstraZeneca arrived that the government tries to continue its confidence on the Sinovac-manufactured vaccine. Especially after the recent cases of South Africa-based variant that the China-based Sinovac having an advantage over its western-made counterpart, most Filipinos rather continue clinging on western-made AstraZeneca, Janssen, or Moderna.
Sometimes, in reading the news related to these vaccines, this person wonder that if the government really serious in its preference, then how come initially it stated that "Sinovac is not good for healthcare workers?" This did created popular expression that CoronaVac is nothing compared to western-made AstraZeneca! And yet, with the South African variant happened to be in the country, will they accept China's own citing its advantage over those from the west? "It will protect Filipinos against the South African B1.351 variant." said one Rappler article, yet, "It may not be as efficacious as Pfizer or Moderna, but it has a broader range of protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants." even cited that "South Africa stopped its vaccination campaign earlier this year when it found that the AZ vaccine was not effective against its homegrown variant."
But for this person, would say that despite arrived "too late" and really marred by a myriad of politickings and interests, this battle of vaccines doesn't limited to either from Sinovac, Sinopharm, Cansino, versus AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer, or Johnson and Johnson. In fact, some would wait for India's Novavax, Russia's Gamelaya, or Cuba's Soberana, or for that goddamn sake Duterte's followers wanted, Fabunan, in the fight against COVID19. Yet, on the long term, as said in the earlier post, that since the west and even the Philippines' own neighbouring countries also that that thought of creating its own vaccines, then how about the country itself?
That for decades after the former Biologicals Production Service shut down, the country's quest for self-reliance in the field of biologicals stopped its growth. For sure one would think that if the Philippines created its own anti-tubercolosis, anti-diptheria, or anti-rabies vaccines, then why not this? Duterte's last year's "million peso reward" for "promising vaccine makers against COVID19" is nothing but a political placebo, if not a crass joke anyway.
The country can't just depend on the mercy of the market no matter it offers cheap vaccines enough to replace domestically-made ones. Cuba and Vietnam did it with or without outside aid! So why wait?