Malacañang welcomed Vice President Leni Robredo's drive-thru vaccination initiative, saying this would help to bring the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines to the people.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after Robredo expressed hope that her office can replicate their Vaccine Express drive-through vaccination site in other local government units (LGUs) after launching the first one in Manila last week.
In his statement, Roque said President Duterte supports any initiative that would help vaccinate more people in the country.
"Suportado ito ng Presidente (The President supports this) because this is further means of bringing the vaccines to the people," he said.
"Yung method ng pagbibigay, yung drive-thru, eh talaga namang makakatulong ito para mas maraming mabakunahan (This method of vaccinating, the drive-thru, is helpful because it allows us to inoculate more people)," he added.
"So hindi po nagbabago ang posisyon ng Presidente, dahil ito po ay isang pamamaraan na mapamigay sa ating mga kababayan ang mga bakuna (So the President's stand does not change because this is one way of distributing the vaccines to the people)," he continued.
However, Roque seemed to imply that the Vice President's new vaccination drive was not original.
He likewise stressed that the vaccines being distributed were bought by the Duterte administration.
"Noong inanunsyo po ng Imus, Cavite yung kanilang kauna-unahang drive-thru vaccination, sinuportahan po 'yan ng ating Presidente kasi ang mga bakuna naman, binili po ng gobyerno ng Pilipinas sa administrasyon ni Presidente Duterte (President Duterte supported Imus, Cavite when it first announced its drive-thru vaccination because the vaccines, after all, were procured by the Philippines under the President's administration)," he said.
"We welcome, of course, this initiative after the initiative of Imus," he added.
Last week, Robredo said the Office of the Vice President (OVP) was open to partnering with other local government units (LGUs) for their vaccination efforts.
She said the OVP will be responsible for the logistics and personnel while the LGUs will provide the vaccines to be administered.