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Pandemic lays bare WHO's powerlessness to carry out tasks: experts

Nina Larson, Agence France-Presse
Posted at Jan 20 03:09 AM

GENEVA - The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed how underfunded and powerless the World Health Organization is to carry out the tasks the world expects of it, an independent expert panel said Tuesday. Read more »

Duterte orders disclosure of COVID-19 vaccine deals to Senate leader

Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 19 07:29 PM

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the disclosure of the prices of COVID-19 vaccines to Senate President Vicente Sotto III, whose colleagues are investigating the country's inoculation plan, an administration ally said on Tuesday.  Read more »

Cagayan governor mulls Sinovac vaccine for constituents

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 19 06:26 PM

Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba said on Tuesday he is considering giving his constituents the COVID-19 vaccine from China's Sinovac Biotech.   Read more »

Cagayan gov endorses strictest COVID-19 lockdown for Tuguegarao

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 19 04:56 PM

Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba said on Tuesday he endorsed Tuguegarao City's call for its 10-day return to an enhanced community quarantine, the strictest of 4 lockdown levels, to contain coronavirus infections.    Read more »

Gov't eyes 28 firms for storage of COVID-19 vaccines

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 19 04:33 PM

The government eyes 28 logistics firms for the cold storage of vaccines against COVID-19, the first batches of which are expected to arrive in February, an official said on Tuesday.  Read more »

Emulating Queen Elizabeth: Palace says Duterte to take COVID-19 vaccine in private

Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Jan 19 04:13 PM

President Rodrigo Duterte "is taking the route" of the Britain's Queen Elizabeth and her husband to take the COVID-19 shots in private, said his spokesman.  Read more »

Palace questions Senate goal in COVID-19 vaccine probe

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 19 03:41 PM

Malacañang on Tuesday questioned the Senate's motive in probing the country's COVID-19 vaccination drive, even as a lawmaker already denied political agenda in the inquiry.  Read more »

Philippines risks losing COVID-19 shots if prices revealed: official

Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Jan 19 02:09 PM

The Philippines risks losing COVID-19 vaccines if they prices are disclosed to the public by authorities, an official leading the inoculation drive, after lawmakers sought to know how much the country would pay for each jab. Read more »

Philippines to get 20 million doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine - Roque

Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Jan 19 07:04 PM

MANILA (UPDATE) — Malacañang confirmed on Tuesday that the Philippines will get 20 million doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, as the country pursues procurement deals with various drug firms. Read more »

Independent pandemic review panel critical of China, WHO delays

Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters
Posted at Jan 19 05:10 AM

GENEVA - An independent panel said on Monday that Chinese officials could have applied public health measures more forcefully in January to curb the initial COVID-19 outbreak, and criticized the World Health Organization (WHO) for not declaring an international emergency until Jan. 30. Read more »

Previous coronavirus infection may offer less protection from new variant

Tim Cocks and Alexander Winning, Reuters
Posted at Jan 19 04:07 AM

JOHANNESBURG - Previous infection with the coronavirus may offer less protection against the new variant first identified in South Africa, scientists said on Monday, although they hope that vaccines will still work. Read more »

Vaccine manufacturing is lumpy, supply not as good as hoped, UK says

Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton, Reuters
Posted at Jan 18 06:52 PM

Britain's vaccine rollout is limited by a "lumpy" manufacturing process with production changes by Pfizer and a delay by AstraZeneca that could lead to brief supply disruption, Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Monday. Read more »

Duterte's COVID-19 vaccination 'solely between him, his doctors'

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 18 05:34 PM

President Rodrigo Duterte's vaccination against COVID-19 is "solely between him and his doctors," his spokesman said on Monday, over calls that the Chief Executive be the first to get the jabs to build public confidence.  Read more »

‘Limited supply’: Roque stands by ‘hindi pwede pihikan’ remark on COVID-19 vaccines

ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Jan 18 10:33 PM

President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque on Monday stood by his “hindi pwede pihikan” advice for Filipinos as regards the COVID-19 vaccines they could take for free from the government, citing “limited supply”.   Read more »

Palace: 'New normal' areas 'approved in principle'

Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Jan 18 04:03 PM

An inter-agency task force leading the country's COVID-19 response has "approved in principle" a "new normal" quarantine level for areas which have had no transmission of the respiratory disease for a while, Malacañang said on Monday.  Read more »

Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine not yet a done deal? 'Wrong,' says Palace

Jamaine Punzalan and Pia Gutierrez, ABS-CBN News
Updated as of Jan 18 09:40 PM

The Philippines has a "binding contract" with China for its COVID-19 vaccine, President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman said on Monday, refuting 2 officials' statement that supplies from Chinese vaccine developers were not yet a done deal. Read more »

Southeast Asia: Contact tracing a COVID-19 hoax

Yvonne T. Chua, Vera Files
Posted at Jan 16 04:58 AM

The diet hoax—that eating high-alkaline foods could beat COVID-19—should have died down by now. After all, science experts and fact checkers across the globe had been quick to bust it when it came out. Read more »

Philippines includes UAE, Hungary in travel ban

Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 15 09:43 PM

The government has banned until the end of the month the entry of foreign travelers from 32 other countries that reported the variant first detected in the UK. Read more »

DTI backs easing pandemic age restriction on going out

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 15 04:24 PM

The Department of Trade and Industry said on Thursday it supports gradually easing of age restrictions down to 10 years old to boost the economy, which the COVID-19 pandemic dragged into recession.   Read more »

'Tira nang tira, wala namang alam,' Duterte spokesman says of Sinovac critics

Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jan 15 04:22 PM

Critics of the COVID-19 vaccine from China's Sinovac Biotech are ignorant, President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman said on Friday, as Philippines lagged behind its regional counterparts is launching a mass inoculation drive.  Read more »