MANILA, Philippines — Senator Panfilo Lacson still refused to confirm or deny that he has been vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), saying that it is “of little significance or no significance at all.”
In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Wednesday, Lacson said that what is more important is providing the vaccine to the majority of the Filipino population.
“Whether or not I had my vaccine is of little significance or no significance at all. What’s important is we should have the vaccine for the majority of our population,” Lacson said.
“We are targeting 60 million [Filipinos] and we need something like P73.2 billion according to [Finance Secretary Sonny] Dominguez. I think we should focus more on that rather than whether or not I or Majority Leader [Martin] Romualdez of the House had our vaccine injections,” he added.
Asked about concerns that getting vaccinated, even without approval from concerned government offices, is scary, Lacson said: “If I had my inoculation, I’m still here talking to you and I don’t look ill naman. Let’s leave it at that.”
Lacson and Romualdez made the headlines last weekend after Senate President Vicente Sotto III claimed that the two lawmakers got vaccinated already to fight off the virus.
On November 22, Lacson hinted that the “vaccination” was just a joke made at the Senate lounge.
But Sotto maintained his earlier claims, saying that it was during a meeting in Malacañang in September when Romualdez informed President Rodrigo Duterte that he and Senator Panfilo Lacson were vaccinated against COVID-19.
Romualdez is still mum on the issue as of posting time.