Grab the vaccine now regardless of any brand

The Department of Health’s scheme of not announcing what vaccine brand will be available in any inoculation sites is a welcome move to avoid unnecessary overcrowding and confusion.

This DOH strategy came following reports of people flocking to the vaccination sites after learning that a specific vaccine brand of high efficacy rate would be given there.

For example, in a vaccination site in Manila, hundreds of people rushed to the place en masse to have themselves inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine brand whose efficacy rate is 95%.

The said sudden flock of people indicates that they prefer Pfizer from any other brands such as Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Sputnik V.
What happened there at the Manila vax site was a terrible scene of an unmanageable crowd.

Contrary to critics’ allegation of the deprived right of an individual to be informed, health authorities cited on-site vaccine education, proper recording using vaccination cards, and monitoring for any post-adverse effect.

DOH had repeatedly assured the public that all these vaccines being rolled out in the country have an Emergency Use Authorization from the Philippine’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), thus, all these brands are safe and effective for protection against the COVID-19.

In other words, the DOH assurance is loud and clear that all vaccines now available in the country are all best regardless of the brand.

As of May 19, the government has inoculated more than 2 million Filipinos belonging to priority groups A1 to A3. The country is set to begin the vaccination of economic frontliners and indigent families in the NCR Plus by June if supplies are available.

Government preparedness must be doubled as the population vaccine confidence now runs high. No slowing down of the vaccination program to cope with the Asian region countries in the inoculation race.(IS)