Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. heaped praises on molecular biologist Father Nicanor Austriaco on Monday night, Dec. 6, for helping the country address the challenges of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Austriaco, who is in the United States while developing a COVID-19 vaccine for the Philippines, was admired by Cabinet members after he attended as a guest speaker during the recent “Talk to the People” public address of President Duterte.
The University of Santo Tomas (UST) researcher discussed to Duterte the Omicron variant and allayed public fears on the new strain of the coronavirus.
“Sir, actually sir, Father Austriaco is helping us all throughout even though he is in States. He is with us every Monday talking about COVID-19. And also he helped Quezon City, sir, on the vaccination,” Galvez told President Duterte.
Apparently, Austriaco also communicated with various priests and other religious organizations to allow churches to be made as vaccination sites.
“So we opened more or less 187 churches as vaccination sites during the campaign, and Father Austriaco is very, very instrumental on that, Mr. President,” Galvez added.
In the same public address, Duterte urged Austriaco to stay for good in the Philippines as he quipped him to be the Department of Health (DOH) Secretary in replacement of Secretary Francisco Duque III.
The President said Duque has expressed intention to “rest” numerous times after battling allegations of corruption in the DOH’s procurement of medical supplies.
Austriaco, however, refused the offer and said Duque was already doing a good job addressing the pandemic in the country.