Expect ‘wait-and-see’ on Sinovac

By Herbert Vego

 

BARRING unforeseen circumstances, some 600,000 vials of China’s anti-Covid-19 Sinovac vaccines might have already arrived in Manila, complete with airport fanfare and welcome speech by President Rodrigo Duterte.

While this was being written yesterday, however, not even the news that this initial batch is a donation would excite the intended recipients. It does not becloud the “non-disclosure” transaction for succeeding millions of vials that have been reported to cost PHP 3,600 per two doses when other countries are paying the equivalent of 600 pesos only.

What could be a more ominous indicator of public displeasure than the resistance of some health workers at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) to the China-made vaccine? To partially quote a statement from the Philippine General hospital Physicians’ Association on the choice of China’s Sinovac to be rolled out for PGH employees:

“The PGH PA stands firm that Sinovac, despite being the only vaccine available at hand, should undergo appraisal by the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) to facilitate individual informed decision-making before it is administered to healthcare workers.”

Sinovac fared very poorly with a sweeping disapproval rating of 95% on the survey done among PGH residents and fellows.

This despite the announcement of PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas del Rosario that he would get the first shot.

On the local front we remember an Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo survey indicating 70 percent of respondents averse to be vaccinated.

Distrust in China transcends prejudice over its pharmaceutical products. No doubt most Filipinos decry the subservience of the Duterte government to this foreign country that has forcibly occupied our territories at the Spratly Islands and shooed our fishermen away.

They would rather wait for Pfizer’s (USA) and AstraZeneca’s (UK) and at the “right time”. That could mean biding time while observing the vaccine’s effects on the earlier-vaccinated; or until they are assured of government indemnification in case of post-vaccine infections.

Who would profit from the hyped “necessity” to pump chemicals into our blood vessels?

Obviously, it’s the Big Pharma. Imagine the billions of dollars to be made from a portion of the 7.5 billion people worldwide.

Taking that reality into consideration, even the legal circle has expressed adverse “verdict” to pandemic-influenced protocols. You must have heard about the decision of an appeals court in Lisbon, Portugal granting the request for immediate release of four German tourists who had been quarantined in a hotel room after one of them had tested Covid-asymptomatic.

Questioning the accuracy of the RT-PCR tests, the court said, “There is no evidence that this diagnosis was actually carried out by a professional qualified under the Law and who had acted in accordance with good medical practices”.

Don’t we even wonder why  the World Health Organization (WHO) says Covid is “incurable” when in fact the majority of cases recover?  These as probably the “asymptomatics” or the 85 percent who show no symptoms of the disease at all. If we take them off the list of cases, the remaining number would be too negligible to scare us.

Since everybody seems presumed Covid-positive until proven otherwise, we can’t hide from quarantine requirements that could be very expensive to heed, as in the case of a father and his daughter who arrived in Manila after a long vacation  in New Zealand – a country with only 26 Covid-attributed deaths so far. They were asked to go into a one-week quarantine at the Microtel Hotel, where a Red Cross worker would swab-test them.

To their dismay, their scheduled RT-PCR test was postponed to the last day of their quarantine, thus disabling them from catching up with their booked PAL flight to Iloilo City.  Since their flight tickets were non-refundable, they ended up paying for rebooking on another flight.

Pagdating sa bayan ng Cabatuan, wala nang laman ang kanilang pitaka. Hu hu hu.

BIGGEST BIKING EVENT IN THE CITY

AS this column was being written yesterday morning, more than a thousand cyclists in Iloilo City were rolling their bicycles on the 29-kilometer “ fun and fund drive” aimed at improving and beautifying the bike lanes out of their hundred-peso entry fee.

Known as “Bisekleta Ko, Ka-Date Ko,” it was a joint project of the city government and MORE Electric and Power Corp. to highlight the significance of February as the love month.

Nine new bicycles and other raffle prizes were at stake for registered participants.

It also highlighted two anniversaries:  the second anniversary of the law RA 11212 granting MORE Power a 25-year franchise, signed by President Duterte on February 14, 2019 (Valentine’s Day); and the first anniversary of the day (Feb. 28, 2020) when it replaced the previous franchisee, Panay Electric Co. (PECO) via the writ of possession issued by the Regional Trial Court of Iloilo.

For their initiative, this writer says kudos to Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas and MORE Power President Roel Z. Castro, who both believe in bike riding as a pleasant and healthful hobby as well as a means of transportation.

Cycling burns calories, hence a great way for the obese to lose weight while building strong muscles. It boosts the immune system, which is our main defense against diseases, including Covid-19.

Indeed, the  young ones ride a bike to add days to their life while I, young once at 71, ride a bike to add life to my days.