Malacañang said Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte might get inoculated with COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s state-owned pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm through the “compassionate” use license granted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, the Office of the President’s legal office is currently determining whether there is a “legal basis” to administer the Sinopharm vaccine to Duterte.
As a lawyer, Roque believes that the President is qualified to receive vaccine doses from Sinopharm under the compassionate use license since he is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
“It’s still being studied by the Malacañang legal office. If you ask me as a lawyer, he is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and he should be allowed to use the Sinopharm under the compassionate use license,” said Roque.
Duterte’s preferred vaccine is the one developed by Sinopharm. Unfortunately, the Chinese drugmaker has yet to secure an emergency use authorization from the FDA.
The FDA has issued a compassionate use license for the administration of only 10,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine to the members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).
The PSG has yet to receive the vaccines from Sinopharm, Roque said.
“Maski naman po meron ng compassionate use ang Sinopharm, I confirm po with the PSG na hindi pa nila natatanggap yung 10,000 na order nila ng Sinopharm,” he said.
