Senior citizen in Manila gets Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine

A senior citizen in Manila was inoculated with Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine a day after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its use for persons aged 60 years old and above.

The Manila City government posted on Facebook a video of a senior citizen from Barangay 864, Zone 94 who was among the residents who signed up for the government’s mass vaccination program.

In the same post, the city government’s Office for Senior Citizens’ Affairs encouraged the elderly anew to pre-register for the vaccination program through its website.

As of 12 noon, the Manila City government said it already deployed 4,705 vaccines for its Thursday rollout.

On Wednesday, the FDA approved the use of the use of Sinovac on senior citizens amid the shortage in vaccine supply in the Philippines.

However, an evaluation of the senior citizens’ health must be conducted to ensure that Sinovac’s benefits will outweigh the risks.

Initially, the Philippine government only used AstraZeneca vaccine for senior citizens while Sinovac jabs are administered to persons aged 18 to 59. However, various local government units faced a shortage in vaccine supply including Manila City.

While the FDA said Sinovac’s efficacy rate on elderly people is at least 51%, the regulatory body said this should not be given to senior citizens with acute illness and uncontrolled hypertension.

So far, the Philippines has 2,525,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccine supply. Of this number, two million is Sinovac, and the rest AstraZeneca.

On Thursday, the DOH reported 6,414 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the nationwide tally to 819,164.

The total number of active COVID-19 infections in the country is 158,701. — RSJ, GMA News