Manila gov’t yet to discover shops selling unauthorized COVID vaccines

Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno. (Photo from his office)

MANILA, Philippines — The city government of Manila has yet to discover any establishment selling smuggled and unauthorized COVID-19 vaccines, Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said Thursday as he assured that these will not be allowed in the city.

“So far naman ho ay wala pa ho tayong naaaktuwalan at talagang nababantayan na partikular na area or establishment,” Domagoso said in a televised briefing.

(So far, we have not yet discovered an area or establishment doing such.)

“Rest assured that minu-monitor namin ito araw-araw because we will not allow this. We will not allow our people to be fooled around by these claims that iyong products nila ay COVID-19 vaccine,” he added.

(Rest assured that we monitor this daily because we will not allow this. We will not allow our people to be fooled around by these claims that their products are COVID-19 vaccines.)

No COVID-19 vaccine has been given an emergency use authorization by the country’s Food and Drug Administration.

“Kasi ang gusto natin, ang ipagamit sa tao ay iyong itinakda ng ahensiya ng gobyerno, like in this case, iyong FDA. Kasi kahit papaano masasabi natin iyan ay mga sertipikadong ligtas ayon sa mga regulasyon,” Domagoso said.

(What we want is to let the public use what is authorized by government agencies, like in this case, the FDA. This way, we can say that it is certainly safe.)

This comes after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana surmised that “smuggled” COVID-19 vaccines were inoculated to some members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).

The PSG admitted to “requesting” for the COVID-19 vaccines, but refused to disclose their “source.”

Apart from several military men, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año also said a Cabinet member was already vaccinated against COVID-19.