News Roundup 24 May 2021
May 24, 2021 • 3 min Read
Philippines logs 4,973 new COVID-19 cases, total at 1.18 million | PHILSTAR.COM – Health authorities on Monday reported 4,973 fresh coronavirus cases, pushing the country’s total to 1,184,706. Today’s development saw active cases down by 1,718 from May 23’s 50,635. The Department of Health said six laboratories did not turn in screening results.
- Active cases: 48,917 or 4.1% of the total
- Recoveries: 6,666, bringing the number to 1,115,806
- Deaths: 39, or now 19,983 in total
Vaccine advisory group suggests use of churches as jab centers | PHILSTAR.COM – Vaccine experts in the country proposed the use of churches as vaccination facilities as the country anticipates the arrival of more coronavirus jabs, the Department of Health said Monday. The National Immunization Technical Advisory Group made the proposal last week, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing. “NITAG has proposed to use churches [as vaccination sites] because churches are well-ventilated and may help in our vaccination efforts,” Vergeire said. She said the recommendation needs to be approved by the government’s pandemic task force on pandemic response and the vaccine cluster. Last January, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines announced it was offering church facilities to help in the government’s massive inoculation drive. Vergeire also said the agency is in talks with the private sector for the use of their establishments as inoculation hubs. “Big hospitals and even malls will be utilized for us to have mega vaccination sites. Huge parking areas will be also transformed as mega vaccination sites,” she said. Public health and environmental advocates earlier called on the government to bring vaccination efforts closer to people who need them most by strengthening existing inoculation sites and utilizing community-based facilities such as churches and covered courts.
Most Filipinos prefer US as source of anti-COVID vaccine | INQUIRER.NET – Most Filipinos prefer the COVID-19 vaccine brand manufactured in the United States followed by China, latest results of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey reveal. In a survey results released Monday, most of the 1,200 adults have expressed preference on US-made vaccines at 63 percent, while China is at far second at 19 percent. Japan ranked third at 13 percent, followed by Australia and the United Kingdom at 13 percent; Canada and Russia, 12 percent; Germany, 8 percent; South Korea 6 percent; and India, 3 percent. Two percent chose all 10 countries, while 12 percent did not give an answer. The US-made shots are also preferred by all respondents in all areas and education levels at 66 percent in Visayas, 65 percent in Balance Luzon, 63 percent in Metro Manila, and 54 in Mindanao. SWS, however, noted that the preference for US brand “rises with education,” as it was most preferred among college graduates, 67 percent, followed by junior high school graduates, 66 percent; while elementary and non-elementary graduates posted 58 and 55 percent, respectively.
Millions of Pfizer, AstraZeneca vaccines from COVAX expected to arrive in June – WHO official | Manila Bulletin – Around four million doses of vaccines against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is expected to arrive in the country from the COVAX facility next month. Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, WHO representative to the Philippines, said 2 million doses of Pfizer vaccines and another two million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines may be shipped to the country by June. “We are expecting up to 2 million Pfizer doses to come in before the end of June. It may be as early as within the next 10 days,” Abeyasinghe said in a public briefing. “We also expect about 2 million doses of AstraZeneca to come within the month of June,” he added. However, the WHO official noted that there are no specific dates yet for the delivery of the vaccines, adding that it is not clear if the doses will arrive in one shipment or in batches. The Philippines received 193,050 doses of Pfizer vaccines in May 10, the first batch of donated COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility.
