Philippine envoy to US receives COVID-19 vaccine

Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez received his first shot of COVID-19 vaccine at a Washington D.C. hospital as the capital began to roll out its phased vaccination program, the Philippine Embassy said Wednesday.

A Moderna vaccine was administered to Romualdez, 73, a few days ago, the embassy said.

"I received the first dose of Moderna's COVID- 19 vaccine as part of the continuous roll out of Washington D.C.'s phased-based vaccination program days before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris," Romualdez said in a statement.

Romualdez was the first Filipino envoy publicly known to have received a COVID-19 vaccine.

Last month, Romualdez announced American biopharmaceutical firms Moderna and Arcturus are ready to supply four to 25 million of their respective COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines.

The national government is also negotiating with COVID-19 vaccine makers Pfizer, Novavax, British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and China's Sinovac.

"The creation and deployment of safe and effective vaccines takes us a step closer to defeating this pandemic and restoring our economies," Romualdez said as he

thanked the US government the private sector and the World Bank for the Philippines' vaccination program.

"Getting these vaccines to the people requires close collaboration within international community and between governments and private entities."

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. said the rollout of mass vaccination program in the country is expected by February, using vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac and AstraZeneca. Health workers will be prioritized, he added.

Manila on Tuesday allowed Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech Ltd. to hold clinical trials in the country for its COVID-19 vaccines as the national drug regulatory board awaits its late-stage trial reports before processing its application for emergency use.

Amid reports of a low efficacy rate and side effects that sparked fears among Filipinos, the Philippine government said it intends to purchase 25 million doses from Sinovac.

The Philippines, which has one of the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia, along with Indonesia, recorded 504,084 cases and 9,978 deaths as of Tuesday. -- BAP, GMA News