Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago “Chito” Sta. Romana shares on his social media account a photo showing him receiving his first dose of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine on May 24, 2021 in Beijing. Photo courtesy of Amb. Chito Sta. Romana.
MANILA - Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago “Chito” Sta. Romana has been inoculated against COVID-19 with the vaccine candidate of Sinopharm, he said Tuesday.
Sta. Romana, 73, who is in Beijing, received his first dose of the Chinese vaccine on Monday, and is scheduled to get the second dose on June 21.
"So far, so good, no feeling of discomfort," he told ABS-CBN News in an online exchange.
"Though I slept early last night due to feeling of drowsiness. Felt much better upon waking up this morning," he added.
President Rodrigo Duterte was also inoculated last May 3 using the Sinopharm vaccine, his preferred brand.
The product, which uses inactivated virus, has no emergency use authorization (EUA) currently in the Philippines and was only granted compassionate use permit for the Presidential Security Group.
The Philippine drug regulator has so far granted EUA to the vaccine candidates of Pfizer, Sinovac, Gamaleya Institute, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Bharat BioTech, and Moderna.
Of those, supplies from Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Gamaleya Institute have been delivered to and administered in the country.
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