Despite President Duterte not wanting to take credit, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said that the Philippines would not have a single coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine dose until now if the country had a different president.
Roque made the statement as the government rolled out its vaccination program against COVID-19 this week with at least 1 million vaccines at its disposal.
In a speech during the vaccination launch in Davao City on Friday, Roque thanked Davaoeños for letting the Philippines have President Duterte.
"Patuloy po akong nagpapasalamat dahil ipinahiram ninyo sa amin ang Presidente Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Kung hindi po ngayon ipinahiram sa bansang Pilipinas ng Davao ang ating Presidente siguro po ngayon wala pa ring bakuna (I am thankful that you let the country borrow President Duterte. If not, perhaps we still do not have a vaccine now)," he said.
Roque mentioned how the country received 600,000 doses of CoronaVac vaccines from China and 487,200 doses of AstraZeneca shots from the COVAX Facility this week. He said this was possible because of the President's independent foreign policy.
"Kung tayo po ay nag-rely lamang po doon sa dati nating sinasandalan na bansa, hanggang ngayon po wala sana tayong natanggap dahil ngayon po ang mga bakuna (If we only relied on one country, we wouldn't have any vaccine until now)," he said.
"Sana po wala ng magdududa na tama po ang ginawang polisiya ng ating Presidente dahil kung wala po itong polisiyang ito, wala nga pong bakuna ngayon (I hope no one is doubting the President's foreign policy anymore because if not for this, we would still not have any vaccine)," he added.
During his weekly public address on Monday, March 1, President Duterte credited the Filipino people for the COVID-19 vaccines the country received as a donation from the Chinese government.
"I do not want to grab the credit. The credit is (due to) the Filipino people, (who) inspired us to crank our grey matter between the ears on how really can we muster a good plan," he said.
The government is now vaccinating the country's health workers using the 600,000 doses of CoronaVac donated by the Chinese government. The distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX Facility is set to start soon.