This photo taken and released on July 27, 2020 by the Philippines' Presidential Photo Division (PPD) shows Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte delivering his annual State of the Nation Address in congress in Manila. (PHOTO / AFP)
The Philippines received on Sunday a batch of vaccine donated by the Chinese government, jumpstarting the Southeast Asian country’s immunization program.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attended the handover ceremony of the vaccines at a Philippine Air Force base in the capital city of Manila. The CoronaVac, developed by Sinovac Biotech, is the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines arriving in the country. The donation is part of Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s promise during his January visit to Manila.
The Philippine vaccine rollout, which is scheduled to start March 1, is expected to reduce the number of infections and help the country’s economy recover from the pandemic. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Carlito Galvez, head of the national COVID-19 task force, will get the first jab.
In a statement published in his official Facebook account, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian said the vaccine donation attests to the “solidarity as well as profound friendship and partnership” between China and the Philippines.
The Philippines, which has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, has been criticized for its slow vaccine rollout and how it’s affecting economic recovery. There were 574,247 COVID-19 cases as of Feb 27, according to the Department of Health.
Lockdown measures and travel barriers that were meant to stem infections dampened consumption – a key component of the Philippine economy. In 2020, the country’s GDP contracted by a 9.5 percent – the worst economic performance since World War II.
The Philippines, which has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, has been criticized for its slow vaccine rollout and how it’s affecting economic recovery. There were 574,247 COVID-19 cases as of Feb 27, according to the Department of Health
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Alicia García-Herrero, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at French investment bank Natixis, said that while the Philippine vaccine program lagged behind other Asian countries like China, Indonesia and Singapore, its vaccination schedule is “not so late”. She cited Malaysia, Thailand and Republic of Korea which have just started its inoculation program. ROK launched its vaccination program in Feb 26 while Malaysia and Thailand started in Feb 24 and Feb 28, respectively.
Garcia-Herrero expects the Philippine economy “will do fine” this year thanks to a “huge base effect” from last year.
Victor Abola, senior economist at the Manila-based University of Asia and the Pacific, had a less sanguine outlook, noting that a slow vaccine rollout will also delay economic rebound. While the Philippine government targets a 6.5 to 7.5 percent expansion in 2021, Abola sees a 5.5 to 6.5 percent GDP growth this year.
The Feb 28 CoronaVac delivery is just part of the 5.1 million doses of vaccine that are expected to arrive in the Philippines in the first quarter. Presidential Spokesman Harry roque said 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines will arrive Monday (March 1).
Chinese vaccines is also key to the vaccination programs of other Southeast Asian countries, with ASEAN officials stressing how the strong diplomatic ties have helped in their fight against the pandemic.
Thailand welcomed the arrival of 200,000 doses of CoronaVac in Feb 24 and launched its vaccination program four days later. Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, among other officials, received the first jab at the country’s infectious disease institute, according to Xinhua News Agency.
“It's a historic day and a day to help the country rebuild confidence against the pandemic,” Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, who presided over the event, told reporters after all the recipients of the vaccine ended their 30-minute observation period and had shown no adverse reaction.
In Malaysia, the first batch of CoronaVac arrived on Feb 27, with Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing and Malaysian officials Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong, Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin welcoming its delivery at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
The 200-litre bulk vaccine will later be processed into 300,000 vaccine doses by Pharmaniaga, the country’s biggest pharmaceutical company.
The cooperation between China and Malaysia was “extremely important in ensuring that we could also include the Chinese vaccines in our portfolio,” Khairy said in a press briefing, according to a report filed by Xinhua. The vaccine is still subject to the approval of Malaysia’s regulatory bodies.
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Nazihah Muhamad Noor, a public health researcher at the Khazanah Research Institute, a think tank in Kuala Lumpur, welcomed Malaysia’s vaccination program against COVID-19, adding that the country has “a great track record of carrying out past vaccination campaigns, with a dedicated health workforce that works hard to reach even the most remote areas”.
She said that one of the benefits of not being the first country to start the vaccination program is that Malaysia can learn from the experiences of other countries which started their vaccination roll out earlier.
But Nazihah said the rollout doesn’t mean that people should abandon the health protocols that kept them safe during the pandemic. She said Malayia is only starting the first part of its three-phase vaccination program, where only a small group of the Malaysian population will be inoculated.
The first phase, which started Feb 24 and will last until April, will inoculate frontline personnel including employees of the Ministry of Health, Armed Forces, police, Civil Defense Force and the Malaysian Volunteer Department.
“The majority of Malaysians remain vulnerable to infection and will remain so until we vaccinate at least 70 percent of the population, if not more, depending on what the actual threshold for vaccine-induced immunity is. Until then, a lot of the non-pharmaceutical interventions like requiring masking in public places, reducing crowding, minimizing contact would still need to be in place so that individuals can protect themselves from infection,” Nazihah said.
Yang Han in Hong Kong contributed to this story