Wednesday, February 1, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Columns So I See by Lito Banayo

Who gets shot?

Lito BanayobyLito Banayo
March 8, 2021, 12:20 am
in So I See by Lito Banayo
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

"One thing is certain—we cannot wait for the “best vaccine,” and we just have to take whatever government and the private sector is making available to us."

 

This is not about the shoot-out in front of a fast-food outlet on Commonwealth Avenue between the QC police and PDEA agents, which the President has directed the NBI to investigate.

Neither is it about Ronald McDonald being the real culprit, as internet memes hilariously suggest, to sarcastically comment on the inexplicable shooting incident which only exposes the soft underbelly of the instruments of the law assigned to handle the President’s signature program against illegal drugs.

This is about who gets the first shots of the vaccines that have mercifully arrived, and since the first of March, have been distributed to various cities in the capital region and elsewhere.  

Just as February ended, 600,000 doses of Coronavac by Sinovac arrived, with the President mismo welcoming the planeload along with the Chinese ambassador. Then on Thursday night, a KLM plane delivered close to 500,000 doses from the Covax facility of the WHO. These were flown in from Belgium, with the President again receiving these at Villamor.

ADVERTISEMENT

As March started, the Sinovac vaccines were brought, first to our national hospital, the PGH, where Dr. Gap and medical frontliners volunteered to get the first shots.  But days before Sinovac arrived, our very own Food and Drug Administration issued an EUA which specified that the Chinese vaccine was not advisable to be administered upon senior citizens AND medical front liners due to its lower efficacy (50.4%).

The day after, the DOH, under whose huge umbrella FDA as an agency is sheltered, caused a “clarification” by the FDA, which dutifully “corrected” its earlier caveat, insofar as medical workers were concerned.  This was followed by a palace announcement that only medical front liners were to be “shot” first, aside from the vaccine czar, Sec. Carlito Galvez, and his co-czar, Sec. Vince Dizon.

Which did happen, except somehow, MMDA chairman Ben-hur Abalos, whose mother died of COVID-19 just several weeks before, also got the initial shots. No problem with that.

Examples had to be given, to demonstrate to the public and even medical workers hesitant to accept Sinovac, especially after the FDA said that it was not efficacious enough for high-risk front liners, not to worry and get shot.

Mayor Marcy Teodoro of Marikina wondered why LGU heads like himself were not allowed, considering that first, they were exposed to the public as often if not more; and second, that a skeptical public would rightly be assured if their elected officials led the vaccination.  Bakit nga ba?

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno dutifully followed the DOH fiat and contented himself with witnessing the roll-out at PGH which is located in his city.  But in Sta. Ana District Hospital the following day, which was built and is run by the local government, he had his vice-mayor, Dr. Honey Lacuna, get the shot in her arm.  She was certifiably a front liner, by DOH definition.

And at the Veteran’s Memorial Medical Hospital, Rep. Helen Tan of Quezon’s fourth district, also a physician who chairs the health committee in the HoR, got a shot which was intended for her son, another medical practitioner in the same hospital.  People wondered why her, but then, hey, she is a doctor.  Whether or not she practices her profession actively or not is immaterial, because the DOH guidelines were quite hazy as they were, even contradictory to its own FDA’s earlier EUA pronouncement.

But then again, in Pasay City, a DILG Undersecretary, Jonathan Malaya, got his shot, well-publicized at that.  His reason —we are also front liners.  Otro razon—we should inspire the public to have confidence in vaccines.  Especially Sinovac?

In the midst of the initial confusion and the conflicting statements, with someone in Octa Research now saying that Astra-Zeneca cannot deal with mutations of the coronavirus, from the original Wuhan to the UK variant, and then South Africa, and then Brazil, and also Hong Kong (is there no one else?), one thing is certain—we cannot wait for the “best vaccine,” and we just have to take whatever government and the private sector is making available to us.

Kung 50-percent protection, better than nothing.  “Huwag nang choosy,” as our officials say. 

No use crying about the what ifs.  Long ago and several times have we and practically every other writer complained about the incompetence of DOH ranking officials which may have infected the lower rungs of its bureaucracy, and now with COVID-19 cases spiking up once more (3,439 last Saturday, and a little less on Friday!), we just need to protect our puny little bodies as quickly as possible.  

After all, the PSG and other entitled mortals got another Chinese vaccine, Sinopharm as early as October of the previous year, and mukhang okay naman silang lahat, except one friend I mentioned in this space last week.

In wealthy Singapore however, they seem to be quite “choosy”.

Last December, Pfizer vaccines arrived, their transport minister receiving the shipment with much fanfare. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called the arrival a “welcome present we have been looking forward to.”  In February, Moderna delivered the first batch of its mRNA vaccines, and Lee was mighty pleased as well.

But when Coronavac by Sinovac arrived March 2, only the Chinese Embassy in Singapore played up the event.  Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health said that the vaccine had not yet been authorized by its regulators and cannot be immediately used.  An infectious disease expert even said that it was “unusual that the vaccines arrived before authorization.”

Choosy sila. Tayo, no choice.

That’s life, I guess. Just heed Yorme Isko, whose T-shirt is emblazoned with the words: “Vaccine Nation is the Solution.”

Tags: COVID-19Lee Hsien LoongRodrigo DuterteSinovacvaccine
ADVERTISEMENT
Lito Banayo

Lito Banayo

Related Posts

Recovering

byLito Banayo
January 30, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
A crisis president

"Though it is a congressional initiative, and the presidential hand is yet to be seen, this is very welcome news"...

Read more

But will they talk?

byLito Banayo
January 26, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
A crisis president

"But is the owner of the corporation that sold the laptops untouchable?" The president, justifying his staying on as agriculture...

Read more

Mutations

byLito Banayo
January 23, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
A crisis president

"We can only hope and pray that behind the candor is a nobility of purpose." Kiong Hee Huat Tsai! It’s...

Read more

Balance and timing

byLito Banayo
January 19, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
A crisis president

"Maybe the DA secretary should now give way to men with more time and the energy required to steer the...

Read more

Using Davos to send a message to the Senate

byLito Banayo
January 16, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
A crisis president

"But one cannot stop the pinklawans and the speculation-driven chismosos from asking whether the MWF is a convenient vehicle to...

Read more

Eeez a puzzlement

byLito Banayo
January 12, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
A crisis president

"One hopes and prays that we shall see clear directions and less puzzlements in the next few weeks, even as...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • Belatrix tops regatta in Batangas
  • Sneakers for Makati : AB4.0
  • PBBM vows affordable housing
  • LPG price up by P11.18/k
  • Envoys asked to back PH bid in UNSC
  • President names Gatchalian as new DSWD head
  • Vergeire ‘ready’ to take DOH top job if offered
  • Diokno assures no recession if MIF fails

Advertisement

Latest News

President names Gatchalian as new DSWD head

byVince Lopez
February 1, 2023, 1:20 am
0
8
Vergeire ‘ready’ to take DOH top job if offered

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Valenzuela Rep. Rex Gatchalian as the new head of the Department of Social Welfare...

Read more

Vergeire ‘ready’ to take DOH top job if offered

byWillie Casasand1 others
February 1, 2023, 1:10 am
0
8
Vergeire ‘ready’ to take DOH top job if offered

Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said Tuesday that she is now ready to be the next secretary...

Read more

Diokno assures no recession if MIF fails

byMacon Ramos-Araneta
February 1, 2023, 1:00 am
0
8
Bonoan gets past CA, Tulfo grilled on citizenship

The country’s economic managers assured senators that the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) will not be big enough to bring...

Read more

‘P5M for removal from BI blacklist’

byManila Standard
February 1, 2023, 12:40 am
0
8
Koreans top list of fugitive aliens captured by BI

An anti-crime watchdog on Tuesday bared reports of a new modus involving online offers for the removal from the Bureau...

Read more

Dela Rosa alarmed over high-caliber guns of Chinese syndicates

byMacon Ramos-Araneta
February 1, 2023, 12:30 am
0
8
Bato, Rody not preparing to defend selves with ICC probe looming

Sen. Ronald dela Rosa raised alarm over the use of high-caliber guns and grenades by Chinese syndicates involved in POGO-related...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App