The clash over Sinovac

By Herbert Vego

 

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte could not hide his irritation when he sneered at senators who had opposed the importation of China’s anti-COVID Sinovac vaccine.

“Gusto ninyo ng Pfizer, kayong mga senador? In Norway, 25 persons died after receiving Pfizer vaccination,” he said on Monday night.

News reports from Norway had mentioned that 23 senior citizens had died after receiving the US-made Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The Norwegian Medicines Agency had attempted to soften the impact of the bad news by stressing that the fatalities were over 75 years old and were “already seriously ill.”

Much earlier, however, a healthy pediatrician-gynecologist from Florida, USA, Dr. Gregory Michael, 56, had died of brain hemorrhage after receiving Pfizer vaccine. Duterte was, in effect, siding with vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, over a “done deal” on the importation of 25 million doses of Sinovac at PHP3,629.50 per two doses when other countries were buying at the equivalent of PHP650 in our currency.

It could only mean that some government “entrepreneurs” stand to profit more from the Chinese vaccine.

Sinovac has been exposed for its poor 50.4% efficacy based on phase-3 trials in Brazil as against Pfizer’s 95%.

This corner predicts that, even if Sinovac were not as dubious as other China-made goods, most Filipinos would not heed the President’s Sinovac “prescription” that is obviously based on his “friendship” with Chinese President Xi Jin Ping.

We wonder why we do business with the source of the coronavirus.

Are we not supposed to rage against a bigger problem, Chinese occupation of our territories at the West Philippine Sea?

 

VACCINE ‘NECESSITY’ OVERBLOWN

THIS corner has received mixed reactions to our stand questioning the “necessity” of a vaccine to beat the threat of COVID-19. While some agree with me that a strong immune system would be good enough to resist its intrusion into the human body, others hit us for “misinformation”.

We know of US-based Filipinos who think so because I write like
“conspiracy theorists,” hence unscientific. We can’t blame them; it is no secret that the US ranks No. 1 in the number of COVID cases and deaths.

Forget the “conspiracy theories” that pinpoint the United State as China’s main target. There are also medical theories that lend credence to the assumption that the rapid build-up of the pandemic in the US indicates lack of certain vitamins and minerals – say vitamin D, which normally comes from exposure to sunlight.

In the year 2009, the US Archives of Internal Medicine published the result of a study showing that 45% of 18,883 participants had less than the minimum 30 nanograms per milliliter of vitamin D, hence insufficient for overall health.

But what could be more scientific than the proven importance of the immune system in keeping us alive, as in the case of that “boy in the bubble”?

When David Vetter was born in Houston, Texas in 1971, he had to be kept in a sterile, oxygenated plastic bubble because he lacked infection-fighting immune cells — a rare disease known as Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID). He lived for 12 years inside constantly upgraded plastic bubbles. An unsuccessful bone marrow transplant to generate fighter cells ended his life.

Going back to base, what has our Department of Health (DOH) achieved in 10 months apart from scaring us with daily announcement of accumulated COVID cases and deaths?

Our health authorities pretend to be unaware that fear, stress, anxiety and depression could be more deadly than the feared disease because they weaken our immune system.

Instead of thinking negative over COVID-positive, why don’t we rattle statistics in our favor? As of yesterday, for instance, of the 505,939 Filipinos who have caught COVID in 10 long months, only 10,042 have died. Does it not disprove the yarn that COVID is incurable?

Death from other diseases is certainly more prevalent in this country where more or less 1,500 Filipinos die daily.

Why has the DOH not made a study on what medicines have made them well instead of waiting for an effective vaccine? Is it to prioritize the interest of the Big Pharma?

No doubt the multinational drug makers would be earning billions of dollars from worldwide sales of the vaccines.

Meanwhile, who cares about the unreported number of Filipinos who are now hungry and suffering from non-COVID diseases due to loss of jobs in the wake of government-imposed lockdowns?

 

MORE POWER’S PHOTO COMPETITION OPEN

THIS good news is open to photography enthusiasts residing in Iloilo City: MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power), in collaboration with the Photographic Society of Iloilo, has launched its “MORE Power Image Photo 2021”  contest based on the theme “Bringing More To Life,” focusing on the significance of energy to modern way of life.

Each participant may only submit one original photo entry.

Employees of MORE Power and members of the Photographic Society of Iloilo are not qualified to join.

All entries must be in high-resolution (300 dpi), digital format (jpeg), landscape, and in 2mb minimum capacity using any smartphone/digital camera (DSLR/mirrorless). Drone photos are not allowed.

Deadline of submission is on February 8, 2021.

The competition is in line with the second anniversary on February 14 of the final approval by President Duterte of RA 11212, the law granting MORE Power the franchise to energize Iloilo City.

The prizes awaiting the winners are:

Overall Best MORE Power Image — 2021 PHP15,000

Sub-category 1 (Empowering Education 2021) — PHP10,000

Sub-category 2 (Power Impacts on the Environment 2021) — PHP10,000

Sub-category 3 (Most Popular Photo 2021) — PHP10,000

10 runners-up — PHP1,000 each

The winning “Overall Best MORE Power Image 2021” will grace the cover of MORE Power’s coffee-table book within this year.

The over-all winner and those of the three sub-categories will be chosen from 14 best photo entries. The remaining 10 will be declared as runners-up.

The “14 best photos” will be featured in MORE Power’s website and social media platforms to reach a passionate audience who will also be asked to pick the “Most Popular Photo.”