VOL. XXXIV • NO. 313 • 2 SECTIONS 8 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2021 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
DINAGYANG GOES ONLINE. The ‘Pamukaw’ heralds the Dinagyang 2021 celebration with the rousing beat of the drums heard across social and mainstream media in Iloilo City. The festivities were streamed on various digital platforms in keeping with social distancing protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Arnold Almacen/Iloilo City Mayor’s Office
No EUA, no vaccine buy—Palace • CHR calls for ‘equitable access’ • Galvez: Vaccines not overpriced
By Maricel V. Cruz and Willie Casas
M
ALACAÑANG said the country may not push through with its purchase of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines if the Chinese pharmaceutical firm fails to get an Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.
“No vaccine can be used by the government without EUA,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Saturday. During a Senate hearing on Friday, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez and testing czar Vince Dizon were grilled on why the government was bent on purchasing the Sinavoc vaccine when its efficacy lagged behind other brands. Dizon said if the vaccine-expert panel would not recommend the vaccine and the FDA would not grant it an EUA, then the government would not go ahead with the purchase. Galvez also assured senators the Sinovac procurement was not yet a done deal. So far, the Philippine FDA has only
granted EUA to Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine – a vaccine which has been found 95 percent effective in its study population and 92 percent effective among all races after Philippine FDA evaluation. Before Pfizer-BioNTech’s secured its Philippine EUA, it had secured EUAs from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Singapore, among others. Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights called on the national government to ensure an “equal distribution of and access to” COVID-19 vaccines. “From a human rights perspective, equitable vaccination promotes and protects public health of the entire nation for ‘no one will be secure until everyone is secure,’”
Commissioner Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana said in a statement. Gana said the CHR was concerned that local government units in urban centers and metropolitan areas had been “lining up to gain immediate and priority access to COVID-19 vaccines seemingly ahead of others.” “It is the responsibility of the national government to make sure that vaccines must be as accessible for Filipinos in urban cities as well as those situated in far-flung areas of the country where there is a known cluster of infected population,” Gana said. “There may be local government units with a host of infected residents who may not have resources to urgently procure vaccines. The national government must step in to maintain a balanced access to the Covid-19 vaccines,” she added. Gana added the distribution of vaccines should “ensure the rapid, coordinated, and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines for all Filipinos wherever they may be residing in the country.” She also reminded the government of its obligation to uphold the people’s right to health, and this includes a vac-
cination program. “Since a vaccination program is part of the government’s obligation to uphold the people’s right to health, it must then also adhere to the standards of availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality,” she said. “Such standards include the people right to know and be assured of a vaccine’s effectiveness and that it is scientifically and medically appropriate and of good quality,” she added. Gana said should the government fail to roll out the vaccination program for all in one go, “then it must work for its progressive realization – efficiently and effectively, in partnership with possible sectors, and to the best effort and resources it can devote—until we ensure that no one gets left behind.” “An efficient vaccination system promotes the universal quest for everyone to be accorded the right to a standard of living adequate for one’s health and well-being, especially in the aspect of medical care. An effective national vaccination strategy is a vital component of an efficient national health care program, and an undeniable human right,” she added
COVID-19 PH AT A GLANCE
(AS OF 4 PM JAN. 16)
498,691 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES
2,058 28,674 NEW
9,884
ACTIVE
8
DEATHS
NEW
460,133
406
RECOVERIES
NEW
LOCAL ROUNDUP
Patient with UK China ‘firmly stands’ with PH vs virus, donates 500k vaccines strain no longer has symptoms
CHINESE Foreign Minister Wang Yi reaffirmed China’s commitment to help the Philippines fight the COVID-19 pandemic, with a promise to donate 500,000 vaccines and a P3.72 billion economic and technocal cooperation grant agreement to finance livelihood abd infrastructure projects. He paid a courtesy call on President Rodrigo Duterte Saturday before concluding his two-day official visit in the country as part of his three-nation Southeast Asian swing. Wang also held bilateral talks with his counterpart, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., who cited China’s crucial role in the post-pandemic recovery of the Philippines and the global economy. “China’s powerful economy and the biggest consumer middle class in history of 800 million impart to her an essential indeed imperative role in the post pandemic global recovery. Even in the resurgence of the pandemic worldwide and even in China, China has already recovered the gains she lost,” Locsin said.
ONLINE BIZ COACH ON WORKING SMART When Kassy Pajarillo-Braganza lost her job as a marketing consultant in the early part of 2018, she started her own startup venture with $90 in her pocket and capitalized on her LinkedIn network.
Wang, for his part, underscored the importance of a mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two countries. “Standing at this new starting point of 2021, facing challenges beyond COVID-19, it is important for us to make an early plan of our interactions and cooperation for the whole year, shelve differences and build common ground, work closely with each other to firmly move forward along the course, and create more fruitful outcomes for our comprehensive strategic and cooperative relationship,” Wang said in his speech delivered in Mandarin. “COVID response and economic recovery will be the top two priorities for both of our countries... China as a friend of the Philippines and your closest neighbor, we will firmly stand with the people of the Philippines until the defeat of this virus,” he added. As for Wang’s announcement on the vaccine donation, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it up to the donor to determine from which companies the vaccine will come from.
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By the time Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th US president Wednesday, his scandal-tainted predecessor Donald Trump will already be far away, having helicoptered out of the White House a last time earlier that morning.
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President Rodrigo Duterte welcomes visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a courtesy call Saturday. Wang reiterated China’s commitment to help the Philippines in its battle against the pandemic. RTVM
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Big-time oil price increase looms OIL firms are poised to implement another round of price hike for petroleum products in the coming week, Unioil Petroleum Philippines said Saturday. In its fuel price forecast for the January 19 to 25 trading week, Unioil said diesel prices may go up by P1.00 to P1.10 per liter while gasoline prices may increase by P0.90 to P1.00 per liter Year-to-date adjustments stand at a net increase of P1.30 per liter for gasoline, P0.60 per liter for diesel, and P0.65 per liter for kerosene.
THE country’s first case of the mutated COVID-19 strain is now asymptomatic and is waiting for medical clearance, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said Saturday. “He is asymptomatic. He does not have any more symptoms and we are waiting for him to finish his antibiotics and a doctor’s declaration that he is well. He is actually OK. He did not need to be moved into a hospital,” Belmonte said. The 29-year-old male patient, a resident of Brgy. Kamuning, flew back to the Philippines from the United Arab Emirates on January 7 via Emirates Flight No. EK 332. Strengthen contact tracing Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong Jr., who is also the country’s contact tracing czar, has urged local government units to strengthen their tracing efforts following the first confirmed case of the more transmissible UK coronavirus variant. “They should not simply rely on the Department of Health and the Philippine National Police,” Magalong said Saturday. “Local governments should take the leap in contact tracing,” he added. No Traslacion effect yet The OCTA Research Group said on Saturday that they have yet to see the effect of the Feast of the Black Nazarene, which many feared could have been a superspreader event. Dr. Guido David said the recent spike in infections may be attributed to increased activity over the holidays even as the reproduction rate is already stabilizing. “We’re hoping that it won’t turn out to be a superspreader event because we’re not seeing any indications yet,” he said.
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