The 600,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine donated by China have arrived and government officials celebrated with glee even if some health workers doubt its efficacy. It’s a reason for us to be happy, though, since after several arguments, the vaccines finally arrived. Malacañang spokesperson Harry Roque leaped with joy, so to speak, on the arrival of the vaccines.
Lucky are those who got the first dose of the vaccine. However, being in the frontline in the fight against this virus, they deserve to have the vaccine first. But even while government officials and doctors show the public their dose of Sinovac, there are still those who are not confident with the vaccine’s effect.
We are the last among the Asian countries to get the vaccine. Myanmar, which is now under martial law, was even ahead of us in securing those vaccines. Those who do not trust Sinovac will have to wait for the 525,600 doses of AztraZeneca-Oxford vaccine that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said arrived on Monday. Unlike the arrival of Sinovac, there was no news that a ceremony was held in accepting the Aztra-Zeneca-Oxford vaccines. Maybe, these are not free.
The donation of 600,000 doses of Sinovac raised some eyebrows on the true intention of the Chinese government. There were suggestions that China should have donated more to accommodate the country’s billion population since the Chinese government already has occupied the islands/islets that are part of our country’s economic zone in the West Philippine Sea, which it now claims to be part of the South China Sea using its own dash line theory that was rejected by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on July 12, 2016. But China just ignored the historic Hague ruling that supposedly favors our country.
Be that as it may, when will the vaccine roll down to the public, particularly to the people living in densely populated metropolitan areas who are prone to the infection of the coronavirus? In Cebu City, Mayor Edgar Labella already laid down the rules on who will receive first the vaccine. Councilor Joel Garganera, the deputy implementer of the City’s Emergency Operations Center, while expressing glee on the arrival of the vaccines, has some reservations on how to dispense the vaccines to the public.
The other question that hangs in the balance, does Cebu City have enough vaccines to administer to the public? Or are these vaccines limited only to the government officials, health workers and the frontliners, which include the policemen, soldiers and barangay tanods? Lastly, let’s hope that the vaccines’ distribution would not be politicized considering that the May 2022 polls are not that far.
***
The resignation of former Cebu City Councilor and now MCWD Chairman Joey Daluz from Barug Party did not cause any surprise to his fellow politicians and to his followers even if he left hanging the reason for his leaving the party of Vice Mayor Mike Rama. As they say, there are no permanent friends and parties in our brand of politics. (For full text, visit: www.sunstar.com.ph)