Nothing wrong if public gets access to, receives COVID vaccine – Año

FILE PHOTO: Small bottles labelled with “Vaccine” stickers stand near a medical syringe in front of displayed “Coronavirus COVID-19” words in this illustration taken April 10, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

MANILA, Philippines — Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año sees no problem with people getting the COVID-19 vaccine if they have access to it.

In an interview over ANC’s “Matters of Fact” on Tuesday, Año’s opinion was sought on ordinary citizens or moneyed individuals receiving the COVID-19 vaccine despite the absence of an approval from the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“Well, if they’re able to get it from their relatives. I don’t see anything that is against the law,” Año said. 

It was Año who bared that some members of Cabinet and that of the Presidential Security Group  (PSG) have already received the COVID-19 vaccine. 

But Año, in the same ANC interview, later clarified that only one member of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet got inoculated. 

DILG Secretary Eduardo Año

The DILG said that the inoculation of the Cabinet member and the PSG members was voluntary.

“It is voluntary on the part of these officers and this Cabinet official.  Hindi naman yan what you call that distribution or selling. Parang ano lang yan if you have a relative from abroad and he has access and he sent you one and you use it voluntarily,” he said. 

(It’s not what you call distribution or selling. It’s as if you have a relative from abroad and he has access and he sent you one and you use it voluntarily.)

Asked if he thinks it was “illegal”, Año replied: “ Well, we have to consult the legal but I don’t see…  I read also  the law and people are doing it.” 

“What is prohibited is selling and distributing without regulatory approval, but they are using it [for] professional use, somebody who has bought it from a country who has EUA (emergency use authorization). So I don’t see anything illegal.”

The FDA previously clarified that it has not yet authorized any COVID-19 vaccine in the country, and cautioned the public about unaccredited vaccines that are being advertised as safe and effective against the virus.

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