The association of physicians and health workers at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) have rejected the use of the vaccine for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) from China’s Sinovac on public health workers.

The PGH Physicians’ Association said that “it came as a surprise” to the hospital’s community that the vaccine that would be administered to its staff and health workers will be from Sinovac, when in fact the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not recommend the Chinese-made vaccine for administration on healthcare workers exposed to Covid-19.

To recall, the FDA said that Sinovac’s vaccine only had a 50.4-percent efficacy rate for health workers dealing with Covid-19 based on tests in Brazil.

”As the national university hospital, PGH should set an example on how vaccination rollout should be executed in the country,” the group added in their tatement. “PGH should uphold the ideals of ethical and evidence-based medicine, [of] which it has been a bastion.”

The group said that the PGH community has a right to demand a “safe and efficacious Covid-19 vaccine for all.”

“We recognize the efforts of the PGH administration in hastening the vaccination process for its constituents. However, the vaccination plan should have been handled with more prudence and transparency,” the group added.

The Philippines is set to receive today (Sunday) the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines from Sinovac amounting to 600,000 doses. Meanwhile, another batch of 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines are to arrive tomorrow (Monday) from AstraZeneca through the COVAX initiative of the World Health Organization.