Duterte: No excess of COVID-19 vaccines; some Filipinos just refuse vaccination

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said there is no excess of COVID-19 vaccines and that the government procured the right amount of doses for the target population for inoculation — there are just some Filipinos that refuse to get vaccinated.

In his recorded regular public address, Duterte said that vaccines are ready to be used and that the government will just try to maximize the vaccines.

“There is no excess, actually. Ngayon kung ang mga tao nagtatago o ayaw, andiyan na ‘yan (Now if the people don’t want it, it’s still there); we will try to maximize the utilization of vaccines, especially ‘yung expiry date nila, malapit na (if the expiry date is near). The shelf life ng bakuna is not by years, it’s only by months,” he said.

He called on those who have yet to be inoculated to get their vaccines already, otherwise the doses will go to waste.

“Kailangan magamit ngayon, kung hindi magamit at mag-expire, itatapon talaga natin ‘yan. Kung sabihin na sobra sobra ang bakuna, hindi sobra sobra,” the President added.

(We need to use it now. If we don’t use it and the doses expire, we don’t have any choice but to throw it away. If they say that we bought vaccines in excess, it’s not true.)

Duterte proposed a “last minute program” that would bring the vaccines right to the houses of Filipinos.

READ: Another 1 million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine arrive in PH

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