MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday night expressed confidence that China, where the COVID-19 pandemic originated, will be among the first countries to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
According to Duterte, China is already developing a vaccine and that it may be available by September.
“Itong China hindi ito hambog. Wala itong ere. But they… they you know, they work and I’m very sure that they will be the first one… one of the countries that would be able to come up with a vaccine,” Duterte said in a televised speech.
Earlier, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III bared that SinoPharm—China’s biggest pharmaceutical company—recently invited the Philippines to join its trial for the COVID-19 vaccine it was developing. Its clinical trial is in its second phase.
To date, the novel coronavirus has already infected over 5.7 million worldwide since it was first detected in Hubei, China late last year.
In the Philippines, 15,588 people have contracted the respiratory disease, of whom, 921 died although 3,598 were able to recover.