(Photo by CARLOS OSORIO / POOL / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — Members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) volunteered to be inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine that was donated “by someone,” Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said on Tuesday.
He also said the issue should not be used to complicate things.
“These are a handful of soldiers that are protecting the President and no matter how I see, I do not take it against them. It’s voluntary and they have not violated any law,” Año, in an interview on ANC’s “Matters of Fact” said.
Asked if the vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID), Año replied: “There’s no need for the approval. These vaccines have (emergency use authorization) EUA from the country where they originated.”
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año. INQUIRER.net file photo / NOY MORCOSO
“And if somebody would like to try that for personal consumption, I don’t see any conflict on that,” he added.
When prodded if the inoculation of the PSG members sends a message to the public that they can use the vaccines as long as they have access to it despite the lack of approval from the FDA, the DILG chief said: “That’s not the message, don’t complicate things.”
“[It’s] just as simple as the soldiers [of the] President would want to be inoculated and they are able to get some donation on it and the country that provided it has an approved EUA so it’s just simple, let’s not complicate it.”
President Rodrigo Duterte, in a speech last Saturday, previously mentioned that a number of Filipinos have already received the COVID-19 vaccine.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte went back to Manila a day after Christmas to meet selected members of his Cabinet along with infectious disease experts. The emergency meeting, held in Malacañang Palace on December 26,2020, was convened to discuss the emerging fast-spreading new variant of Coronavirus (Covid-19) disease found in the United Kingdom. ALFRED FRIAS/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
Año later bared that PSG members and some Cabinet officials got inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine, despite the FDA issuing no approval on any vaccine yet.
Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, meanwhile, also confirmed that some military personnel likewise received the COVID-19 vaccine.