DUMAGUETE CITY, March 17 (PIA) -- The director-general of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) highlighted the “whole of government approach” which helped in increasing public acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines during his recent interaction with the local media in Dumaguete City.
“Ako tan-aw it’s a ‘whole of government approach.’ Ang Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), Philippine Information Agency, Department of Health (DOH), National Task Force (NTF), ang Presidente na atoang best endorser. I think ang iyahang endorsement sa vaccines regardless of the brands nakatabang sa pag-trust sa tawo sa bakuna (I think it’s a whole of government approach. There’s PCOO, PIA, DOH, National Task Force, and the President who is our best endorser. I think his endorsement regardless of the brand of vaccines helped in developing public trust on the vaccines),” said Usec. Ramon Cualoping III, director-general of PIA, in a press conference.
Aside from this, the PIA chief said that having medical professionals and officials of the NTF on COVID-19 being inoculated also helped boost public confidence on the vaccines.
“Ang public uptake gataas na kay ang mga top doctor sa Philippines nagpaturok na. Ang vaccine czar nagpaturok na. Ang Deputy Chief Implementer sa NTF on COVID-19, Sec. Vince Dizon, nagpaturok na (The public uptake is increasing because the top doctors in the Philippines had themselves vaccinated. Aside from them, the country’s vaccine czar and Sec. Vince Dizon, the deputy chief implementer of NTF on COVID-19 were also vaccinated),” said Cualoping.
Cualoping together with PCOO Sec. Martin Andanar and other representatives of government line agencies visited the city to share updates on the government’s development projects, including the COVID-19 rollout.
He said public acceptance on the vaccines has been increasing since the government started rolling out its inoculation program which targets frontline medical workers in its first round of vaccination.
“Fortunately, taas ang uptake. Taas ang pagdawat sa bakuna sa Sinovac (The public acceptance of Sinovac is high). In the first week alone, I was told around 13, 000 medical frontline healthcare workers have been vaccinated,” he said.
China’s Sinovac vaccine was the first one to arrive in the country.
Cualoping said the Sinovac vaccines were immediately rolled out to different places in the country within five days since its arrival.
“Moving forward, we will release the numbers every Wednesday together with the DOH,” he added.
The PIA chief assured that more vaccines will be arriving in the country, stressing the government’s vaccination plan involves a portfolio of vaccines
“We’ve already signed a procurement deal with Novavax India. The bulk of Astrazeneca will arrive in the third quarter. But in April and May we will have Sinovac an Novavax,” Cualoping said.
He reiterated that the government is not forcing an individual to take a specific brand of vaccine.
However, he said getting vaccinated is the best way to protect a person from the severe effects of the corona virus disease. (ral/PIA7-Negros Oriental)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
0 Comments