President Rodrigo R. Duterte said the Covid-19 vaccine of Pfizer-BioNTech should be made available to poor Filipinos.
He ordered concerned government agencies to stop the distribution of Pfizer vaccines in malls.
Instead, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said, the President wants the Pfizer jabs to be deployed in barangays and to be administered to the indigent population.
“This is because of the rule of Covax,” Roque said in an online press briefing on Thursday.
He noted the vaccines from the Covax facility are meant for the healthcare workers (A1), senior citizens (A2), those with comorbidities (A3), and the indigent population (A5).
For economic frontliners, Roque said, they will be given the Covid-19 vaccines which were purchased by the government.
Informed choice
Duterte issued the new policy for the use of the donated Pfizer vaccines after a vaccination center in a mall was recently swarmed with people, after they learned that Pfizer vaccines were being administered there.
The demand for Pfizer vaccines worldwide remain high due to its reported efficacy rate of over 90 percent.
To prevent similar mass gatherings, Duterte also ordered that the implementation of “brand agnostic” vaccine distribution.
Under such a scheme, the Department of Health (DOH) will no longer disclose to the public the brand of vaccine that will be used in a vaccine center.
The new policy raised concerns it could prevent people from making an informed choice when they are vaccinated.
Roque reiterated a vaccine recipient becomes “informed” when assured by the government on the efficacy of a vaccine and not when they allowed to pick a brand.
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