PRESIDENT Duterte was vaccinated yesterday against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) using the vaccine manufactured by the Chinese state-owned firm Sinopharm, according to former aide now Sen. Christopher Go.
A video posted by Go on his Facebook account on Monday night showed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III injecting the vaccine in the President’s left arm.
The President, in the video, said, “I feel good and I have been expecting this shot, vaccination a long time ago.”
Sinopharm has not applied for emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration. But the FDA, in February, issued a compassionate special permit (CSP) to Sinopharm for the use of its vaccine on members of the Presidential Security Group.
The CSP covers 10,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines for the PSG.
Duterte said he was inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine on the advice of his doctors.
Go, in a statement, said the President got himself vaccinated not just to protect his health but also to encourage Filipinos to get their shots. He noted the President, as a senior citizen, is in the priority list of the national vaccination program.
Duterte is 76 year old and suffers from several ailments.
Sinopharm is not one of the vaccines being procured bought by the government.
Go said the Sinopharm vaccine given to the President was covered by the CSP that was issued to his security detail.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said vaccine “was covered by the compassionate use permit issued to the PSG hospital by the FDA.”
The PSG last year said some of its members received the Sinopharm vaccine to enable them not just to secure the President but also to keep him and his health safe from COVID-19.
The Department of Health assured Sen. Panfilo Lacson that vaccine confidence in the country has increased significantly since the immunization program started on March 1.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire the Department of Health has been getting “reports and observations that the confidence has increased as compared to the start of the rollout, wherein we saw many are still hesitant.”
Vergeire said reports from hospital chiefs show healthcare workers who initially hesitated have changed their minds and now want to get inoculated.
Also, she said vaccination centers have seen a “domino effect” in communities where many get vaccinated.
“We want the vaccine rollout to be hastened and expanded in order to take on that opportunity to get people vaccinated immediately,” she said.
On Sunday, Lacson advised the DOH to intensify its information campaign to improve public trust in COVID-19 vaccines in order to prevent wastage.
As of May 1, the DOH said it has administered 1,934,871 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
The Philippines has received at least 4 million doses of different vaccines. — With Gerard Naval
