MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Monday thanked the government of China for its kindness and generosity in donating 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine sent to the Philippines through a cargo plane.
“Nagpapasalamat din tayo sa gobyerno ng China dahil sa kanilang kabaitan and generosity na nagpadala po sila ng bakuna. Hindi lingid sa inyong kaalaman na China has donated to 53 countries worldwide of this much needed and sought-after Covid-19 vaccine known as CoronaVac,” he said during his speech at the rollout of vaccines at the Lung Center of the Philippines.
Duque noted that China delivered the CoronaVac vaccines through a cargo plane only in the Philippines.
“Fifty-three nations ang kanila pong nabigyan at sabi nga ni ambassador ay ang Pilipinas lang daw po ang kung saan nagpadala sila ng cargo plane,” he added.
He said other countries had to pick up the vaccines from China, but the vaccines were delivered to the Philippines because of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “strong representation” to the government of the Asian country.
“Kung makita po ninyo ang eroplano na pinadala ng China kung saan idinala ang daan libong Sinovac ay pwedeng lamunin ‘yung C130 ng Pilipinas. It would have been a logistical nightmare kung tayo ang sumundo sa China para kunin, which the other countries actually in fact did. They had to go there and pick up the donated vaccines,” Duque said.
“But the government of China, because of the strong representation of President Duterte before the Chinese government and his partnership with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China, sila po ang naghatid dito sa atin,” Duque added.