{"id":263614,"date":"2020-07-31T04:40:06","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T08:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=263614"},"modified":"2020-07-31T04:40:06","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T08:40:06","slug":"phs-first-covid-19-vaccine-might-come-from-china-duterte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/07\/31\/phs-first-covid-19-vaccine-might-come-from-china-duterte\/","title":{"rendered":"PH\u2019s first Covid-19 vaccine might come from China: Duterte"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Duterte said in a taped public address aired on state-run PTV-4 on Friday morning, as he noted that Covid-19 vaccines produced by Chinese drugmakers Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm are showing promising results. (Pixabay photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed optimism that the Philippines\u2019 first vaccine for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) would come from China.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaya ako, saludo talaga ako sa<\/em>\u00a0Chinese (That is why I salute Chinese).\u00a0Ang unang makuha nga natin siguro<\/em>\u00a0from China (Perhaps, the first Covid-19 vaccine we will get is from China),\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte said in a taped public address aired on state-run PTV-4 on Friday morning, as he noted that Covid-19 vaccines produced by Chinese drugmakers Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm are showing promising results.<\/p>\n

He said he is confident that a vaccine for Covid-19 would be developed by December this year.<\/p>\n

In his fifth State of the Nation Address delivered Monday, Duterte disclosed that he had personally asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to prioritize the Philippines\u2019 request to receive China\u2019s vaccine for Covid-19, once it passes all clinical trials.<\/p>\n

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tuesday ensured that the Philippines would be the first nation to get the Covid-19 vaccine, once China becomes successful in developing a vaccine.<\/p>\n

Two vaccines against Covid-19 developed by Chinese private pharmaceutical firm Sinovac and state-run Chinese firm Sinopharm have entered Phase 3 trials, the last step before regulatory approval.<\/p>\n

\u2018Disadvantaged\u2019, gov\u2019t troops are priority<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duterte was thankful that the Philippines’ \u201cfriendly\u201d relationship with China is bearing fruit.<\/p>\n

He guaranteed that underprivileged Filipinos would be the first to receive Covid-19 vaccines, once these become available.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng mauna \u2018yung walang-wala at saka<\/em>\u00a0of course, those in the hospitals,\u00a0\u2018yung mga<\/em>\u00a0sick or dying.\u00a0Ang una talaga \u2018yung mga tao sa listahan na tumatanggap ng<\/em>\u00a0assistance\u00a0sa gobyerno<\/em>\u00a0(Those who are disadvantaged and in the hospitals, sick, or dying, will be given priority. Those who are also receiving aid from government will be prioritized),\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

He said he would also give priority to the police and the military, noting that he needs \u201ca strong backbone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The President reiterated that Covid-19 vaccines would be distributed for free, except for rich people and drug personalities.<\/p>\n

Military to lead distribution<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duterte said he would tap the military to lead the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cSino ang magdala nito?<\/em>\u00a0Military. Military\u00a0lang. Bahala na.<\/em>\u00a0I\u2019m asking the armed forces. The implementing arm \u2013 military (Who will distribute this? The military. Just the military. Let it be. The implementing arm would be the military),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte made the pronouncement as he admitted that he could not trust local officials in distributing the vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Yung<\/em>\u00a0(The) overall umbrella to supervise must be the armed forces. This will remove partisan, favoritism, (and) corruption,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Back to \u2018normal\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duterte said he believes that Filipinos need not experience the \u201cnew normal\u201d because, for him, life will return to \u201cnormal\u201d by December.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng<\/em>\u00a0recovery\u00a0natin<\/em>\u00a0is normal\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0(Our recovery would be normal),\u201d he said. \u201cWe are not going back to a new normal. It\u2019s going to be normal again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte also asked the public to just be patient while the country is waiting for the successful development of a Covid-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI promise you, by the grace of God, I hope by December we would be back to normal.\u00a0Huwag ninyo \u2018yang<\/em>\u00a0new normal, new normal\u00a0kasi sabi ko nga noon pag-umpisa natin hintayin lang natin \u2018yung<\/em>\u00a0vaccine (Do not expect anymore the new normal because we\u2019re just waiting for the vaccine),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, the Philippines has logged 89,374 confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 65,064 recoveries and 1,983 fatalities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed optimism that the Philippines\u2019 first vaccine for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) would come …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":263615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263614"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263616,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263614\/revisions\/263616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}