MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday that many people in the Philippines have already received the COVID-19 vaccine of China’s Sinopharm even as regulators here have yet to approve any vaccines for use.
“Sabihin ko sa iyo, marami na ang nagpa-injection dito sa Sinopharm,” Duterte told Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director-General Eric Domingo in a meeting in Malacañang.
(Let me tell you, many have already been injected with Sinopharm.)
The FDA chief responded, saying they have not caught anyone in the raids they have conducted in Makati and Binondo.
The President bared that some members of the military have taken the vaccine shots.
“Halos lahat ng sundalo natusukan na. I have to be frank, I have to tell the truth…marami nang nagpatusok and lahat up to now wala akong narinig for the select few, not all soldiers, not all soldiers hindi pa kasi policy eh,” he said.
COVID-19 policy chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, in a statement last Dec. 21, said that only the government is authorized to procure and administer the vaccines.
This follows reports of unauthorized coronavirus vaccination activities in Manila City.
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