Malacañang maintained that President Duterte did not break any law when he had himself inoculated with Chinese-made Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine even if it has not been granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) by the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque insisted that the use of Sinopharm falls under the compassionate use permit issued by the FDA back in February for the inoculation of the members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).
“It is covered by compassionate use so as far as the President is concerned he did not violate any laws because precisely it was administered by the PSG hospital although physically administered by the health secretary himself so covered po yan ng (by) compassionate use permit,” he said in his virtual presser on Tuesday, May 4.
The Palace official added that the Sinopharm doses are not smuggled illegally into the country because it is part of the extra 1,000 doses donated by the Chinese government.
“So, walang po nalabag ang ating presidente (our president did not violate any laws),” Roque stressed.
Instead, what he was trying to do is boost the vaccine confidence in the country. His message is clear: “Magpabakuna na ang lahat habang may makukuhang bakuna (Everyone should get vaccinated while we still have vaccines).”
The spokesman then shot down criticisms that getting inoculated with a different vaccine will have a negative impact on the population’s vaccine confidence.
“Nakikita naman ng taong bayan na basta the best bakuna is the one available (The people can see that the best vaccine is the one available),” Roque said, adding that the FDA will not approve any vaccine without the recommendation from the Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Duterte got his first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine on Monday night. It was administered by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III as Senator Christopher “Bong” Go looked on.
Sinopharm, developed by Beijing Biological Products Institute, a unit of Sinopharm subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG), is said to be 79.34 percent effective.