Get vaccinated, President Duterte tells Filipinos after welcoming AstraZeneca jab
President
Rodrigo Roa Duterte has welcomed the arrival Thursday of the first shipment of
COVID-19 vaccine developed by British-Swede drugmaker AstraZeneca, and made an
appeal to Filipinos to get COVID-19 shot to contain the coronavirus.
The
plane carrying 487,200 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine landed at the Ninoy Aquino
International Airport (NAIA) Thursday night with President Duterte, foreign
dignitaries and other top government officials welcoming the delivery.
The
vaccine delivery was arranged through the World Health Organization-led COVAX
facility.
“I
thank the [COVAX] Facility, co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness
Innovations (CEPI), Gavi and [the] World Health Organization (WHO) alongside
its partner the UNICEF, for this delivery,” President Duterte said in his
address during the arrival of the vaccine at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay
City.
Following
the recent vaccine delivery, the President assured the Filipino people that the
government would continue working to ensure the immediate distribution of the
available shots to the communities.
“On
this note, I would like to appeal to all our kababayans: Please get vaccinated
against COVID-19 and be the government’s partner in preventing further spread
of the disease,” he said.
“I
encourage you to get vaccinated at the soonest possible time. These vaccines
are safe, and they are the key to reopening our society,” he added, calling on
the public to continue observing and practicing health and safety protocols
while waiting for more COVID-19 vaccines.
Although
the country may not be out of the woods yet, it is making progress and the end
is in sight, the President said, stressing that with the cooperation of the
public, the country will eventually overcome the pandemic and ensure people’s
safety.
At
the same time, the chief executive directed all government agencies to actively
institutionalize and sustain the whole-of-government approach in addressing the
country’s COVID-19 situation.
The
President also thanked the country’s vaccine czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez
Jr., the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious
Diseases (IATF-EID), and the Department of Health (DOH) for making the recent
vaccine delivery possible.
“Let
me thank you to our key partners in the international community, represented by
their Ambassadors tonight. Their cooperation in public health is very much
needed. Positive engagement is very much welcome,” he noted.
President
Duterte said in his previous pronouncements that the vaccines should be treated
as a global public good, underscoring international solidarity and cooperation
are paramount at this time “because no one is safe globally until everybody is
safe.”
He
also said that the arrival of the vaccine manufactured by the United Kingdom in
partnership with Oxford University, will further boost the government’s ongoing
national vaccination program.
The
AstraZeneca jab was delivered a few days after the arrival of the 600,000 doses
of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine donated by the Chinese government.
During
the Department of Education event in Valenzuela City on Thursday, the President
announced that China will send an additional 400,000 doses of vaccines, making
its total donation one million doses.
PND
