News Roundup 01 March 2021
Mar 01, 2021 • 5 min Read
COVID-19 cases in Philippines hit 578,381 on day gov’t launches vaccination drive | PHILSTAR.COM – The number of coronavirus cases in the Philippines reached over 578,000 Monday as the government launched a vaccination campaign to contain Southeast Asia’s second worst COVID-19 outbreak. The Department of Health reported 2,037 new COVID-19 infections, pushing the country’s caseload to 578,381. Of the total, 31,708 or 5.5% were active cases or those who are still undergoing treatment and quarantine. The country has been seeing an uptick in coronavirus cases with daily new infections breaching the 2,000-level in the past few days. At least 534,351 individuals have recuperated from COVID-19 after the department recorded 86 additional recoveries. Meanwhile, the death toll reached 12,322 with four more patients succumbing to the respiratory illness.
Vaccine czar: No date yet for arrival of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines | PHILSTAR.COM – Sinovac doses arrived in the country as February came to a close, but the arrival dates for AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines are still up in the air despite an earlier claim that they would be here last month. The country began its vaccination program on Monday, March 1 after doses sent by China arrived on Sunday afternoon. The vaccination program has seen delays because the government was caught by surprise on the indemnity requirement to cover adverse reactions. A postponed arrival of AstraZeneca vaccines was the latest given by presidential spokesperson Harry Roque who gave optimistic but inaccurate updates on when the vaccines would arrive. Last month, he said the jabs under the COVAX facility would be in the Philippines by around February 15, a date that the Department of Health clarified was just an estimate. It is now unclear when the vaccines will arrive. Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. in a briefing on Monday did not give a specific date for the arrival of AstraZeneca vaccines. He said vaccines from Pfizer would arrive by the second quarter of the year. “The AstraZeneca was delayed because of global acute shortages and logistical challenges,” he said. In seeking to explain the situation with Pfizer, Galvez said supplies are in high demand in many countries and that the Philippines should not expect delivery any time soon. The AstraZeneca and Pfizer doses that the government is waiting for are from the COVAX facility, a global initiative for ensuring equitable access to the jabs. The direct purchase from drugmakers is a different matter and deals for those have yet to be sealed. This means that the P72.5 billion that Congress approved for securing doses has yet to be spent. “What we are seeing is maybe by second quarter for Pfizer from COVAX,” Galvez said. “But not on the procurement as they are saying initially by third or fourth quarter as they no longer have supplies.”
P20-B cut in pension funds for retired soldiers, cops lead to House finger-pointing | INQUIRER.NET – Congressmen ended up pointing fingers at each other on Monday (March 1) over a P20-billion cut in pension funds for retired soldiers and policemen. The debate used up more than three hours of the House of Representqtives’ plenary session and seemed to revive the rivalry between the camps of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and his predecessor, Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano. Names of past and current House officials allied with either Velasco or Cayetano were dragged into the fray. Rep. Michael Defensor, of the party-list group Anakalusugan, raised the amount of pension and gratuity fund for military and police pensioners which Defensor said had been “significantly reduced” by President Rodrigo Duterte from P172.9 billion previously to P152.9 billion in the 2021 national budget that the President signed. In a privilege speech, Defensor said the fund cut “largely affected the payment of 2018 pension differentials.” Defensor said he was withdrawing his yes vote to the 2021 General Appropriations Act out of “shame” and as a “symbolic” gesture against a “manipulated budget.” Responding to Defensor’s, House appropriations committee chair Rep. Eric Yap confirmed that the pension fund was reduced by P20 billion in the 2021 national budget. He said other items in the 2021 spending measure were also cut to use funds for COVID-19 response like procurement of vaccines and supplies. Yap admitted that he decided to cut the pension fund without Velasco’s knowledge to meet the deadline of passing the budget bill before Congress suspended session late in 2020.
AHW pushes for ‘safe’ and ‘effective’ COVID-19 vaccines | Manila Bulletin – The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) on Monday, March 1, expressed disappointment at the government’s decision to allowing the vaccination of healthcare workers with China’s Sinovac coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine. “We are dismayed at the sudden turn around decision of the government to inoculate health workers with Sinovac, sacrificing the health and safety of the health workers,” said AHW President Robert Mendoza in a statement. “The government should not pass on to us the burden of public trust on vaccination, because it’s the government’s responsibility to the people to give the best vaccine and ensure the safety and efficacy and it should be consistent and transparent to the people,” he added. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Sinovac vaccines last Feb. 22, but it was not recommending the use of the China-made vaccine to medical frontliners who were attending to COVID-19 patients due to its low efficacy rate of 50.4 percent.
Photo: Sabitang-Laya, Caramoan, Camarines Sur, Philippines
Photo Source: By Tuderna, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52524413
