The Presidential Security Group (PSG) personnel who were inoculated with an unregistered coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine last year haven't experienced any adverse effect and are now considered "safe" from the dreaded disease, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) bared Friday, February 19.
Major Gen. Edgard Arevalo, AFP spokesperson, said they haven't recorded any adverse effect so far among the PSG personnel who volunteered to be administered with the vaccine, which did not have the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval.
"We are pleased that the PSG personnel who have volunteered to be vaccinated in the pursuit of their mission to protect the President did not only perform a selfless act, they were also safe as an aftermath of the inoculation," he said in a statement.
Arevalo gave the update nearly two months after it was revealed that some members of the military were already inoculated with an unregistered vaccine, even as the FDA had yet to approve the use of any brand at the time.
Although Duterte initially said in a Cabinet meeying that "many Filipinos" had already been vaccinated, it was AFP Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, who was then the Commanding General of the Philippine Army, who made the specific revelation about the inoculation of several military personnel.
The AFP investigated the incident and found out that members of the PSG, particularly the close-in security detail of Duterte, were the ones given the first vaccine shots.
The issue placed the AFP in a bad light as the national government was criticized for supposedly prioritizing the uniformed personnel over medical frontliners in its vaccination plan.
The FDA and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) also called for an investigation to determine how the vaccines, which it described as smuggled, managed to enter the country.
Arevalo said the AFP is also waiting for the arrival of the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines in the country, which may happen later this month.
He said that this time, the AFP has no canvass yet of military personnel who are willing to get vaccinated.
"As professional soldiers, we toe the line of the AFP leadership of being inoculated with what are BFAD-approved vaccines to be able to better perform our mandate," Arevalo said.
"But we are mindful to give priority to the medical/health frontliners among us," he said, noting that about 25 percent of the 180,000-strong AFP are consisted of medical frontliners.