Tala hospital chief takes Sinovac vaccine despite Pfizer preference

The chief of the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium (Tala Hospital) in Caloocan City said he preferred to be inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech but accepted the Sinovac shot as it was the only one available in the country at the moment.

According to Mariz Umali’s report on “24 Oras” on Monday, Dr. Alfonso Victorino Famaran Jr. said he took the Sinovac jab to get protection against COVID-19.

“I will grab the first opportunity na magkaroon ng protection against COVID-19. Nandito na ‘yong Sinovac eh so Sinovac na ako,” he said.

“Mas informed kami ‘pag Pfizer. Kung sabay, Pfizer, eh walang dumating, Sinovac ako. Kailangan namin ‘yong protection at the soonest possible time,” he added.

A total of 85 employees at the Tala Hospital were vaccinated earlier. Six were deferred, while 10 experienced adverse side effects.

Only 178 of the 1,165 surveyed at the Tala Hospital were willing to receive the Sinovac jab.

Earlier, PGH doctors said Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine should undergo further appraisal before being administered to healthcare workers.

According to the PGH Physicians Association, the appraisal should be done by the Health Technology Assessment Council, an advisory body to the Health Department and PhilHealth, to facilitate informed decision-making.

Although the Chinese vaccine was granted emergency use authorization by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration, it was not recommended for healthcare workers due to its lower efficacy rate of 50.4 percent for the group.

Despite this, the Department of Health said the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group agreed to recommend Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine for health workers. — Ma. Angelica Garcia/DVM, GMA News