Abby Binay on PSG self-vaccination issue: ‘It is blown out of proportion’

MANILA, Philippines — Makati Mayor Abby Binay on Tuesday downplayed the controversial self-vaccination of Presidential Security Group (PSG) using unregistered COVID-19 vaccines, saying the government should instead use them as subjects for data on vaccine’s clinical trials.

“Of course, very technical. It is not approved, the same way if it is not FDA-registered then it is not supposed to be sold and not supposed to use it all that. But I think, it is blown out of proportion, medyo mababaw [it is a bit shallow],” said Binay on ABS-CBN News Channel, reacting to a query about violations of the PSG in getting their personnel vaccinated against COVID-19.

“We should talk about how effective Sinopharm is. […] Kasi ako I am interested, if they had themselves vaccinated, did they feel any side effects in vaccination? What is the status of their IgM? How did the body react to the virus? Might as well use that data. You put it to good use. You use them as part of a clinical trial,” she further said.

Makati City itself announced that all its residents will be soon provided free COVID-19 vaccines, in coordination with vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. and the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) regarding the vaccine purchase and the process for the city-wide inoculation.

Despite using vaccines yet to be registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), PSG members got themselves inoculated on the ground that it is their mandate to protect the chief executive.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier asked Congress not to tinker with the self-inoculation of PSG members, saying it is a matter of self preservation.

EDV