President Duterte has not experienced any ill effects from his Sinopharm booster shot, Cabinet Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles said.
Nograles made this revelation Wednesday, Jan. 19 during a television interview even as he reiterated that the decision to give Sinopharm to Duterte as his booster shot against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was made between the President and his personal doctor.
"Wala namang pong masamang epektong naidulot sapagkat alam namin again itong mga bakuna ni (There has been no ill effect because, again, we know that the vaccines received by) Pangulong Duterte is something between him and his personal phsyician," Nograles said.
"So yung Sinopharm na ginamit sa kanya na bakuna (So along with Sinopharm as his primary series), we are going by the statement niya sa (during his) 'Talk to the People' kung saan nabanggit niya na naka-Sinopharm din po siya as booster (where he said that he also received Sinopharm as booster)," he noted.
It was last Jan. 6 when Duterte casually mentioned during one of his late night public briefings that he has been administered a booster shot against COVID-19. The impression before this was that Palace officials had no idea when this would happen.
Duterte said the vaccine brand for his booster was the China-made Sinopharm, which incidentally was also his primary series jabs. The President did not say when he received his booster.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health (DOH) said that they technically haven't endorsed any brand as booster shot for individuals whose primary series vaccine was Sinopharm. This is due to the lack of studies and data on the matter, even from the manufacturer itself.
The development raised concern over possible harmful side effects that the 76-year-old Duterte might have from his extra helping of the Sinopharm vaccine.
But Nograles said that there have been no such side effects.
"Again, we reiterate that this is something between the President and his personal phsyician," said the Palace official.
Nograles further said that the government and the vaccine experts over at DOH continue to coordinate with the Sinopharm manufacturer in order to gain information that would help them determine the best brand of vaccine for boosting purposes.