DAVAO CITY— The Philippine government plans to purchase at least 60 million doses of coronavirus vaccine once it’s available, National Task Force for COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez said on Thursday.
Galvez said President Rodrigo Duterte has been in touch with several leaders and embassies so the Philippines can be among the first countries to have access to a COVID-19 vaccine once it is developed.
The President has personally appealed to China to prioritize the Philippines, a plea that was warmly received by the Chinese government.
During the Thursday night meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease, Duterte asked the people to be patient until the vaccine will be available.
Here is the statement of the President:
“Now sa — ang mayroon na except for the authorization ‘yung i-distribute na at ‘yang final approval — i-distribute na sa mga opisina nila dito Pfizer, Moderna, for the public.
I promise you by the grace of God I hope by December we would be back to normal. Huwag ninyo ‘yang new normal, new normal kasi sabi ko nga noon pag-umpisa natin hintayin lang natin ‘yung vaccine.
Hintayin lang ho ninyo by December kung makatiis kayo kasi kung lalabas din kayo, matamaan kayo, patay rin eh. Ang mayroon ng — kasasabi ko nga kaya ako saludo talaga ako sa Chinese. Kayong iba diyan sige kayo daldal. Ang unang makuha nga natin siguro from China. Sinovac China, phase 3, emergency authorization pati approval. Sinopharm, China, sa Wuhan pa, doon galing ‘yung ano — so they say. Sinopharm Beijing.
Moderna, nasa stage 4 na sila. Pfizer, BioNTech. CanSino [Biologics], China, sa third. [WuXi?], China, Innovia, [Novavax], Johnson & Johnson first — first stage pa lang.
Mga next month mayroon na… Ang mapabubuti lang nito to our credit is that we have remained friendly with China and China was able to guarantee, sabi nila dito sa akin, that the Philippines would… Ito basahin ko na lang — Chinese Embassy: ‘COVID…’
“China to give priority to the Philippines once the COVID-19 vaccine is successfully developed says Spokesperson Wang Wenbin at their regular press conference on July 28, 2020.” July 28 sinabi niya ‘yan.
“The Philippines is a friendly close neighbor to China. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the two countries have been standing together with mutual assistance, turning epidemic cooperation a new highlight in bilateral…”
Nangako sila na priority tayo. Ang the first three China ang nangunguna eh. Moderna pati ‘yung Oxford AstraZeneca, it’s a — ano ito American o British?
Now, ito ngayon balik tayo sa — mabuti’t nandiyan — nandito ‘yung Cabinet. Magtanong sila: “Mabigyan ba kami, Mayor?” Ito ang i-guarantee ko: Ang listahan ng mga tao na makatanggap ng pera noon sa hirap ang una na bibigyan ng assistance, iyon ang category natin.
Ang mauna ‘yung walang-wala at saka of course those in the hospitals, ‘yung mga sick or dying. Ang una talaga ‘yung mga tao sa listahan na tumatanggap ng assistance sa gobyerno.
Ngayon, pangalawa, ‘yung middle-income. Libre ito. Hindi ko ito ipagbili. Iyong third, kagaya mo Bong; Wendel; Sonny; ikaw General Lorenzana; General Año; ikaw ma’am, ako na ang — ‘yung para akin hatiin natin [laughter] bigyan kita. Wendel is not so rich. Lalo naman itong… Itong mga military na ito pobre ‘to. Mauna rin kayo. And also my military and my police because I need a strong backbone.
The backbone of my administration is the uniformed personnel of government. Iyong mga mayaman, huwag na ninyong — huwag na ninyo akong isipin kasi hindi ako nag-iisip sa inyo. Sorry na lang. Kayo kung maka-afford. ‘Pag nakita ka nang nagpapabakuna ka diyan nang libre… At saka may mga tao na ano gusto ko injectionan uli ng COVID-19, dagdagan ko pa ‘yang kagaw sa katawan. [Ano bang kagaw sa Tagalog?] [Official: Germs] Germ, germs. Kagaw sa Bisaya. Kamong mga suberbiyo, suberbiyo man gud. Galit pa kayo sa akin.”
During the meeting Duterte again called on the people to follow the health protocol to prevent covid-19 infection.-Newsline.ph
