The PGH was ready to receive any COVID-19 vaccine brand for use of its employees, according to Legaspi.
PGH Director Dr. Gerardo Legaspi on Thursday said that the Philippine General Hospital was ready to receive and vaccinate its employees any COVID-19 vaccine brand as long as it had secured an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Malacañang on Thursday announced during the Palace briefing that 600,000 Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by the Chinese government were set to arrive in the country on February 28, 2021.
In a Palace briefing, Legaspi assured that the Philippine General Hospital was ready to receive the vaccines in terms of infrastructure and logistical requirements as the hospital had already acquired freezers and refrigerators for vaccine storage.
“The important thing to remember here is whatever vaccine comes, we should welcome it because it will definitely make a difference in helping control the spread of this infection, and the first area where we should control it will be in the hospitals. Ready na po ang PGH na tumanggap ng mga bakuna kahit anumang brand ito, o kung saan man siya manggagaling,” Legaspi said.
READ ALSO | Palace: First Batch Of COVID-19 Vaccines From China’s Sinovac To Arrive In PH On Sunday
Legaspi — citing an earlier survey — said that 94% of PGH personnel had expressed willingness to get inoculated.
However, Legaspi clarified that when the hospital staff was asked, they’re expecting Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines since 117,000 vaccine doses from the American firm were initially expected to arrive in the Philippines in mid-February.
Meanwhile, Legaspi said that 75% of the PGH personnel earlier expressed willingness to get inoculated even before they knew what COVID-19 vaccine brand would be arriving.
Legaspi said that they’ll try to “thresh out” the earlier pronouncement of the Food and Drug Administration that China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine wasn’t recommended for healthcare workers because of its lower efficacy rate of 50.4%.
Earlier, FDA Director-General Eric Domingo clarified that health workers who weren’t treating patients afflicted with COVID-19 can still be vaccinated with the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine.
For more news and updates, you may feel free to visit this site more often. You may also visit Newspapers.ph via our official Facebook page and YouTube channel.