Quezon Governor Danilo Suarez blamed preference for Western medicine as a reason for the rejection of Sinovac vaccines in the province.
"Hindi natin maiiwasan - ito mentality naman talaga ng mga Pilipino - may preference sila sa Western medicine," Suarez told DZRH in an interview, responding to reports that people in Quezon have been rejecting Sinovac jabs.
(We cannot avoid this – it is the mentality of Filipinos – they have a preference for Western medicine.)
The governor said that despite the availability of Sinovac, the public is aware that vaccines such as Pfizer, Moderna, among others will also be arriving.
In response to this, Suarez said he gathered local executives in the province to "condition" the public that there is nothing wrong with Sinovac.
"Inadvice namin to condition the mind ng ating mga kababayan na there's nothing wrong with Sinovac," he said.
(We advised them to condition the mind of the public that there’s nothing wrong with Sinovac.)
"They're very optimistic na macoconvince nila na kung ano yung available ay tatanggapin," he added.
(They’re very optimistic that they can convince the people to accept the vaccine that’s available.)
Suarez is hopeful that orientation and persuasion will be enough so the public can accept Sinovac as a brand for vaccines.
Quezon has 89 active COVID-19 cases out of 27,775 total infections as of November 28. This is according to the province's public information office.
