YES, this is another compilation of random thoughts, some irreverent, some condescending, some informative and useful but never to convince, rather to make you think.
March being the National Month for Women, let’s pause for a while and honor these brave and pioneering women animal welfare advocates – Anna Cabrera of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society or PAWS, Nancy Cu Unjieng of Compassion and Responsibility for Animals or CARA Welfare Philippines, Ashley Fruno and Rochelle Regodon of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA, Suzanne Llanera of the International Wildlife Coalition Trust or IWCT, and Heidi Caguioa of the Animal Kingdom Foundation or AKF.
These women have given a “voice” for the “voiceless”, raised awareness on animal welfare to what it is now, rescued and saved thousands of animals and were part of the lobby for the passage of Republic Act (RA) 8485 or The Animal Welfare Law and its amendment RA 10631,and RA 9482 or The Anti-Rabies Law.
I am proud and privileged to have worked with these outstanding women for more than two decades during my watch as Director for Operations and External Affairs of the Animal Kingdom Foundation or AKF, also as Director for External Affairs of IWCT Philippines and as consultant for PETA.
And we segue to something more interesting that usually triggers the usual suspects fuming mad to the point of irrational behavior.
When President Duterte gave a “shoot to kill” order against armed rebels, particularly the New People’s Army (NPA) to the military and police, guess who immediately comes to the NPA’s rescue…Bayan Muna partylist representative Gaite and lately, not wanting to be left out, is Vice President Leni Robredo.
I’m guessing General Parlade is effective as spokesman of the NTF-ELCAC and hitting them where it hurts most that the NPA’s supporters in the Senate are now asking for his relief.
I get it. You don’t like Duterte, no, you hate him. But must you also bad mouth a perfectly good vaccine that has been donated to us by China? It’s so far used in most Middle East countries, Indonesia, Thailand and South America…so trust science, not your stupid biases.
Incidentally, our former colonial master, the United States of America, is selling its vaccines, not donating.
And by the way, Sinovac has supplied affordable and effective Vaccines to Filipinos since 2009 i.e. anti-rabies, anti-tetanus, flu vaccines. Yet nobody seems to have complained that these were from China.
Here’s more information just to rub your stupidity and bias in, excerpts from a Feb. 18, 2021 article in www.reuters.com:
Sinovac vaccine works on UK, South African variants – Brazil institute
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech is effective against the UK and South African variants, the vaccine’s Brazilian partner said on Wednesday, citing test results in Chinese trials.
“We have tested this vaccine in China against the English and the South African variants, with good results,” said Dimas Covas, head of the Butantan biomedical center in Sao Paulo which lead domestic trials of the Chinese vaccine and is supplying doses to Brazil’s Health Ministry.
Covas did not give any more details on exactly how effective the vaccine proved against these strains.
Butantan is also testing the vaccine, known as CoronaVac, against the Brazilian variant of the virus which appeared in the city of Manaus, he said.
“Soon we will have the results and we are very positive it will do the job,” Covas said.
Covas was speaking at a news conference in the small city of Serrana, in the interior of Sao Paulo state, where Butantan began on Wednesday a mass vaccination campaign aimed at inoculating the entire adult population against COVID-19 to test whether it lowers the infection rate.
Covas said he expects CoronaVac to have an advantage over other vaccines due to the technology it uses – an inactivated version of a coronavirus strain.
The efficacy of the Chinese vaccine against the Brazilian strain in particular will be vital to Brazil. The government has secured 100 million doses and made the vaccine a centerpiece of its inoculation campaign.
As I have been saying, trust science and not your political biases because those politicians you have been following will not save you but the vaccine will.
And as medical experts have also been saying, “the best vaccine is the one that is available to you.” (brotherlouie16@gmail.com)/PN
