NBI to probe officials in secret vaccine use

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Monday said it would go after government officials behind the illegal importation of and use of an unregistered vaccine from China to inoculate troops from the Presidential Security Group (PSG) against COVID-19.

Health authorities said they were working with the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) for the imposition of sanctions on the medical workers who gave the shot to President Rodrigo Duterte’s bodyguards.

In a television interview on Monday, NBI spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin said investigators would look into the green-lighting of the vaccination and inquire from the officials who approved the inoculation if they knew that the vaccine was not registered in the Philippines.

The President, who disclosed the vaccination in a televised address to the nation on Monday last week, said the shot used was the candidate vaccine developed by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it had not yet approved the drug.

Unanswered questions

The FDA statement quickly led to questions about the source of the vaccine, how it was brought into the country, and who authorized its use to inoculate the presidential guards.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the vaccine was donated, but added that he did not know the donor and the circumstances under which the donation was made.

Roque also claimed that it was not unlawful to be inoculated with an unregistered vaccine. What is unlawful, he said, is the commercial distribution of an unregistered drug.

In spite of such comments from the Palace, Lavin said the NBI would proceed with the investigation, and he gave assurance that the bureau would be independent in carrying out the probe.

“We will do our investigation regardless of the comments that have already been made,” Lavin said. “We do not want to speculate here but again we will just do out job. Where the evidence will lead us, then we will conclude this investigation with the appropriate recommendation,” he added.

Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III, the PSG commander, said in a television interview last Wednesday that the vaccinations were carried out on his own initiative. He said the troops received the first dose in September and the second in October.

Durante also said the vaccinations were done without the help of medical professionals. “We vaccinated ourselves. It was easy,” he said.

Fall guys

But Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee that inquires into irregularities that involve public officials, said in a radio interview on Sunday he did not believe the PSG head.

“General Durante, I don’t believe you. I’m sure you did that out of loyalty,” Gordon said, adding that the presidential guards had been “made to take the fall.”

“We should find out who really brought in [the vaccine], because that guy should be prosecuted,” he said.

The health authorities, too, are dubious about Durante’s claim that the presidential guards vaccinated themselves.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters on Monday that the Department of Health and the FDA were “coordinating with the PRC for the professionals who are said to be involved in administering the unregistered vaccines.”

Vergeire, however, declined to go into details, saying the matter was under investigation.

“This case is under investigation so we cannot disclose any more information. Even the names of the doctors we cannot disclose here,” she said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III last week warned that doctors administering COVID-19 vaccines unapproved by the FDA would be stripped of their licenses.

“We will investigate the illegal administration of unauthorized, smuggled vaccines, specifically doctors who administer them. We will have their medical licenses revoked,” Duque said in a statement on Dec. 31. “We doctors have an oath: do no harm.”

‘Peddling the service’

Duque said there were rumors of legislators meeting up in posh hotels, ostensibly for coffee but later going up to a room for COVID-19 shots.

“I’m not buying the explanation that the doctors administering the shots are being pressured by lawmakers. Someone is peddling the service and it is unacceptable,” he said.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Monday that health workers “who knowingly or willfully administer an unregistered vaccine may be held liable under the Medical Practice Act of 1959.”

It was Guevarra who had directed the NBI last week to investigate the unauthorized entry of the Sinopharm vaccine into the country.

On Monday, he said all laws regulating the use of health products should be “strictly observed.” He stressed that it would be unlawful for anyone to import, manufacture, sell and promote the use of medicines, vaccines and other similar products without the approval of the FDA.

“[The FDA law] imposes the penalty of fine [or imprisonment or both on those who violate] the regulations,” he said.

But Guevarra practically absolved the PSG, saying those who volunteered to be inoculated with a locally unregistered vaccine had no criminal liability under the law.

“Under our existing laws, a person who freely and voluntarily gets himself inoculated with an unregistered or unauthorized drug or vaccine does not incur any criminal liability unless he himself has caused its unlawful procurement or promotes its use by other people,” he said.

PSG to cooperate

Presidential spokesperson Roque said the PSG was ready to face the consequences of its actions and would cooperate with the investigations because it was not hiding anything.

He, however, brushed off questions about the source of the vaccine used by the PSG.

“That is not relevant. If they want to reveal it, they will do so. But what’s important is they are protecting the President,” Roque told a news briefing.

He said the source of the vaccine was “immaterial.”

“What’s material here is they risked their lives to protect the President,” he said.

Roque said there should be “mutual respect” from the Senate, as he questioned the planned inquiry by the Senate committee of the whole into the government’s vaccination program.

“I don’t understand why the Senate, a coequal branch of government, will interfere in the security of the President when the President does not interfere in the security of the Senate,” he said.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan rejected the Palace stand that no law had been violated because getting vaccinated was the presidential guards’ “personal choice.”

“Whoever performs illegal acts, as well as whoever gave the orders, must be made answerable,” Pangilinan said in a statement. “No [good intention will justify an unlawful act].”

He questioned the secrecy that had accompanied the vaccinations.

“This should have been celebrated because this is good news—unless there is an illegal transaction involved,” he said.

Military probe

The Armed Forces of the Philippines was set to investigate the PSG vaccinations, but Roque’s practically clearing the presidential guards gave it pause.

“I would have to consult the AFP chief of staff if the investigation would continue,” Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, the military spokesperson, said after being informed about Roque’s statements to reporters.

The investigation was set to start on Tuesday. Arevalo said.

Gen. Gilbert Gapay, the military chief, wanted the investigation to establish how the vaccine was procured and how it was administered to the presidential guards.

—Reports from Cathrine Gonzales, Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Marlon Ramos, Leila B. Salaverria, Melvin Gascon and Jeannette I. Andrade