Poor, sick Filipinos to get free virus vaccines
President Duterte on Friday said that the anti-COVID 19 vaccines will be free and that poor and sick Filipinos will be the priority recipients.
In a taped public address, Duterte said that COVID-19 vaccines will be free for Filipinos and that the priority recipients would be the ones who are receiving cash aid from the government and the sick people.
He said that while some may take advantage of the free vaccine, he vowed to go after the people who will try to make a profit out of them.
The Chief Executibe threatened to kill these profiteers.
"Maraming palusot na nagpapabili, na humihingi ang the worst baka maghingi pa ng bayad. Mapatay talaga kita. T***, totoo (A lot may want to buy them, ask for them, or worst, sell it. I might kill you if you that, really)," he said.
"Puntahan kita doon. Baka akala mo. Bababa ako dito, puntahan kita (You might think you'll get off easily. I'll go down there and hunt you down)," he added.
Duterte admired China for stating publicly that the Philippines will be one of the first countries to receive COVID-19 vaccines once they are complete.
According to the President, once the country gets its hands on vaccines, it will be the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who will supervise while medical professionals and health care workers administer the vaccines.
"This will remove partisan, favoritism; this will remove petty corruption... However you do it, I don't care. I just want a unified monitoring pati supervising authority, and that is the military," Duterte said.
"I know what you should be doing. I do not have to tell you about it. Must be under the general supervision and monitoring of the military," he added.
In his promise to vaccinate every Filipino, Duterte said he may even allow members of the New People's Army (NPA) to receive the vaccine if they behave.
"We intend to vaccinate every Filipino for that matter. That's quite a big number, actually. So in the provinces, gawin ko rin (I'll also do it)," he said.
"Yung mga NPA, pabakunahan ko ba (Should I vaccinate the NPA)? If you stop fighting for a while during the period, or until December because my soldiers would be busy monitoring, supervising, huwag lang ninyong galawin, puwede kayong sumali, pumila doon (you can queue up and get vaccinated)," he added.
China, the origin of COVID-19, had earlier announced that the Philippines is a priority recipient of the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing after Duterte revealed in his fifth State -of -the- Nation Address (SONA) last Monday that he asked President Xi Jinping to let the Philippines one of the first countries to get the vaccine.