President Rodrigo Duterte is willing to be among the first to be inoculated against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), Palace spokesman Harry Roque said on Monday.
He bared that the President volunteered for a Covid-19 shot even if a vaccine had only been granted emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“Ang Presidente hindi na makaantay. Gusto niya talagang maturukan na siya nang mapakita sa buong bayan na ligtas at epektibo — ito po ay dumaan sa expert panel group ng pinaka dalubhasang Pilipino at ‘yan po ay comes with their highest endorsement na ligtas at epektibo (The President cannot wait. He wants to be vaccinated to show the country that it is safe and effective — that it was screened and endorsed by an expert panel),” Roque said.
Duterte has directed the FDA to grant an EUA to candidate vaccines, shortening the review process from six months to 21 days.
Roque said the President was the best “communication tool” to build vaccine confidence and trust among Filipinos.
Heath Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd said he, too, wanted to be an early recipient of the vaccine and encouraged other Cabinet officials to follow the President’s lead.
“Personal desisyon ‘yan ng ating mga namumuno, pero kapag nangyari po ‘yan babatuhin na naman ang gobyerno na inuna ng bakuna ang mga VIPs gaya ng nangyari sa PCR tests (That is their personal decision but if that happens, there will be allegations that we prioritized VIPs just like what happened to polymerase chain reaction tests),” Duque said.
He reacted to the commitment of Vice President Ma. Leonor Robredo to be one of the first in line for the Covid-19 vaccine.
“Nauna na po si President magsabi na willing siya (The President was the first to express his willingness); let’s hope she can be a guinea pig, [too],” Roque said.
The government will prioritize frontline healthcare workers, indigents and uniformed person-nel for vaccination.
Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go had dared Duque and National Task Force against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. to get a Covid-19 shot first before it is officially rolled out.
In a press briefing on Monday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Duque and other officials, including herself, took up Go’s challenge to prove that the prospective vaccines have passed stringent safety and efficacy trials.
Vaccines entering the country should be vetted by the vaccine experts’ panel, led by the Department of Science and Technology, and the independent Single Joint Ethics Review Board before it is submitted to the FDA for approval.
There are five drug manufacturers who have applied for clinical trials in the country: Sinovac Biotech, Clover Biopharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Gamaleya Research Institute and AstraZeneca.
Vergeire said Sinovac had been approved by the Vaccine Experts Panel, while Janssen and AstraZeneca have been green-lighted by the Ethics Review Board.
Only Clover passed both the VEP and the SJREB, which will pave the way for the vaccine to be studied by the FDA before a clinical trial can be made.
United States drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna, whose vaccines are being evaluated by the US FDA for emergency use authorization, have also signed a confidentiality data agreement with the Philippine government.
Vergeire said despite the possibility that a Covid-19 vaccine could be available starting next year, people should still follow the minimum health standards, because it will take time for the country to become coronavirus-free.
To reach that stage, a country must be certified to have no new Covid cases in 28 days.
“Currently, the Philippines is still on community trans-mission kahit na bumababa na ang mga kaso (even if we see a decline in the number of cases), we can still see clusters of infections in other parts of the country,” Vergeire said.
On Monday, the country logged 1,574 new cases of Covid-19, raising the total to 441,399.
Davao City had the highest number of new cases at 187, followed by Rizal, Pampanga, Quezon City, and Pasig City.
Recoveries have reached 408,702, while the death toll rose to 8,572.
With reports from RED MENDOZA