President Rodrigo Duterte in his latest briefing defended his administration’s alleged preference for China-developed COVID-19 vaccines for the country’s vaccination plan.
He claimed that the vaccines produced by Chinese firms are as good as those made by Western pharmaceutical companies.
“Hindi nagkulang ang Chinese. Hindi sila nagkulang sa utak. Bright itong mga Instik at they would not venture kung hindi sapat, it is not safe, sure, and secure,” Duterte said during the weekly briefing of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
This pronouncement was made by none less than the chief executive despite the report of the Butantan Institute and the Government of São Paulo in Brazil published on Wednesday, which showed the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine only achieved a 50.38% overall efficacy rate in their clinical study.
Duterte also backed vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.’s capability to lead the country’s vaccine team.
“Ako, kung ano ang piliin ni Secretary Galvez would bind me. Parang ako na rin ang bumili ng bakuna,” said Duterte.
Malacañang earlier announced that the 50,000 doses from Sinovac arriving on February will be given to healthcare workers first.
