Name Cabinet officials who were given vaccine – Gordon

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Richard Gordon yesterday urged Cabinet officials who reportedly had themselves secretly vaccinated with smuggled serums from state-owned Sinopharm of China to come clean for transparency and allow health authorities to examine them for possible adverse side effects.

“There’s a right way and wrong way of doing this. I understand the PSG has to take the bullet to protect the President and I praise them for that, but nothing can justify like, any prince of Judas can get vaccines and can’t be traced. It appears they’re crowing about it,” Gordon told dzBB in Filipino, referring to the Presidential Security Group.

He stressed that “injecting themselves with smuggled vaccines is reckless endangerment of their health and that of the President.”

Gordon said the identities of government officials who may have been involved in the smuggling of vaccines that have yet to be cleared by the Food and Drug Administration must be revealed, noting that the act of the PSG and concerned Cabinet officials “set a bad example among other agencies as it indicated lack of discipline and flouting of rules even as it may have demoralized Filipinos.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Bernadette Herrera warned yesterday that the national government, local government units and the general public should be aware of the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines for COVID-19.

“As we await the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines, ensuring that vaccines are authentic could emerge as an important issue,” Herrera said, reminding government of its “duty to ensure public health and safety.”

“We have to remember that counterfeit COVID-19 vaccines may pose serious health risks and are ineffective at protecting an individual from the virus,” the congressman from party-list Bagong Henerasyon added.

She issued the warning in the wake of limited supply of genuine vaccines and where counterfeiters may capitalize on the opportunity, considering that there is a “mismatch of COVID-19 vaccine supply and demand.”

Herrera also reminded the public that selling counterfeit vaccines is a criminal activity that poses serious risks to public health and safety.

At the same time, she also urged the Department of Health and FDA to ensure the availability of affordable, safe and effective vaccines for Filipinos.

Herrera called for proper distribution of COVID-19 vaccines once they become available in the country. “Proper distribution means we have to follow the guidelines on which area and sectors that will be given COVID-19 shots first.”

The government earlier announced nearly 25 million Filipinos composed of frontline health workers, senior citizens, the poor and uniformed personnel will be among the first to receive the vaccine.

It added that areas with the highest number of COVID-19 cases will be a priority for the mass immunization program that is expected to happen within the first half of 2021.