Davao City – The government will shoulder any medical expenses, should the COVID19 vaccine produce any side effects to a vaccinee.
During a phone-patch interview with Radio 911 on March 3, 2021, Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) Co-Chairperson, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles, said that PhilHealth will cover such expenses.
“Aduna’y bala-od nga gipirmahan ni Pangulong Duterte to make sure nga naa ta’y pondo para ana ,” he said.
Nograles made this clarification amidst the current ongoing vaccination being done to frontline health workers after 600,000 doses of Sinovac COVID19 vaccine arrived in the country.
According to Nograles, the 600,000 doses of Sinovac COVID19 vaccine is a donation from China, not bought by the Philippines.
He also clarified that the “50% efficacy rate” of Sinovac refers to mild symptoms. Meaning, there is a 50 percent chance that a person inoculated with Sinovac COVID19 vaccine is protected from mild symptoms.
As well, the vaccine makes it so that there is a 78 percent chance that the person will be protected from moderate symptoms and 100 percent chance that the person is protected from severe or life-threatening symptoms.
On the delivery of vaccines, Nograles assured that all regions will receive them.
“Pero syempre ang gi-una is NCR kay naa man diri ang center of gravity. Diri gyud ang pinakadaghang cases (But of course, NCR was the first to receive because they are the center of gravity. They have the most number of cases),” Nograles explained.
“Pero halos sabay-sabay naman pud ang pagpadala. Wala man poy ingon nga priority list kay paspas man ang pagpadala nato sa mga vaccines,” he added.
(Jan Vincent Leuterio, PIA-XI | Michael Manguhig, RPN DXKT Davao OIC)