Now is not the time to be picky about the brand of the coronavirus vaccine.
President Duterte issued the latest appeal to the public to get vaccinated as soon as the opportunity comes as he warned about the threat posed by the new coronavirus variants.
The President, in a televised address late Wednesday, May 26, has frowned on some people's preference for the Pfizer vaccines, saying they cannot be "selective" given the limited supply of the US-made jabs in the country.
"If by chance you are injected with Pfizer, eh suwerte ka kung iyan na talaga ang gusto mo. But ako ang --- a misnomer, bakit maging masuwerte ka kayong mga kukuha ng Pfizer? (It's a misnomer. Why would you be lucky to get Pfizer?) Why? Do you think you that are better of --- well, being vaccinated and you are far from getting COVID again? There are so many variants now and it's better to have the vaccine right away without being choosy," he said.
"Vaccine is vaccine, walang pilian 'yan (You cannot choose). Kung puro Pfizer lahat dumating sa atin, okay (If the supplies delivered to us are all Pfizer, that's okay) but ang Pfizer is just one of the variants that we are using," he added.
Duterte recognized the COVID-19 variants were adding to the urgency for vaccination as the country's coronavirus cases soared to over a million.
The country has recorded 1.19 million cases of infections, including 20,169 deaths, as of May 26. In the vaccination front, more than 4 million doses of coronavirus cases have been administered so far.
READ: Duterte hits bias for Pfizer vaccines
In his speech, the President made a push for equitable distribution of all vaccine brands across the country. He explained that the government cannot distribute Pfizer vaccines exclusively to one area, depriving other Filipinos to benefit from the jabs.
"If you use it in one place --- kaya nga sabi ko ulitin ko again --- how about the other Filipinos? So there has to be equality," he said.
"It would not be fair to just concentrate or focus the Pfizer vaccine in one place. Mahirap 'yan. You might get it but it is a result of a mixture," he added.
READ: Duterte orders equitable distribution of COVID vaccines