{"id":279865,"date":"2020-12-28T04:36:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T09:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=279865"},"modified":"2020-12-28T04:36:06","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T09:36:06","slug":"palace-defends-afp-personnel-for-getting-sinopharm-vaccine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/12\/28\/palace-defends-afp-personnel-for-getting-sinopharm-vaccine\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace defends AFP personnel for getting Sinopharm vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque explained that getting inoculated with a vaccine without approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Philippines is not a violation of Republic Act 9711 or the FDA Act of 2009. (PCOO file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Monday defended the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) after some military personnel received Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm\u2019s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine despite having not been approved yet by local regulators.<\/p>\n

In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque explained that getting inoculated with a vaccine without approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Philippines is not a violation of Republic Act 9711 or the FDA Act of 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi po pinagbabawal ng batas natin ang magpaturok ng hindi rehistrado. Ang bawal po yung<\/em>\u00a0distribution\u00a0at yung pagbebenta<\/em>. So\u00a0ito naman po ay tinurok sa mga sundalo na pumayag<\/em>\u00a0(The law does not prohibit individuals from getting inoculated with vaccines that are not registered. What\u2019s prohibited is the distribution and sale. So, this was only given to soldiers who agreed),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Citing FDA Director General Eric Domingo, isolated inoculation of vaccines is allowed if it is not commercially distributed or sold.<\/p>\n

\u201cSabi nga po ng<\/em>\u00a0FDA\u00a0nga kapag yung pagturok na hindi naman<\/em>\u00a0commercially distributed, commercially sold,\u00a0hindi naman po \u2018yun pinaparusahan o pinagbabawal<\/em>\u00a0(The FDA said that if the vaccine was not commercially distributed, commercially sold, it won\u2019t be penalized or prohibited),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Roque said receiving the Sinopharm vaccine is a \u201cpersonal decision\u201d of some military personnel, adding that it is currently among the \u201cmost widely-used\u201d vaccine so far.<\/p>\n

He also noted that nearly 1 million Chinese people including workers, government officials, and students, have received the Sinopharm vaccine. Only a few people experienced symptoms but there were no adverse reactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cSiguro \u2018yun yung dahilan kung bakit yung mga sundalong pumayag ay<\/em>\u00a0assured\u00a0naman sila na<\/em>\u00a01 million\u00a0nabakunahan, wala namang nangyari sa kanila<\/em>\u00a0(Perhaps that\u2019s the reason why the soldiers agreed to get inoculated because they were assured that since 1 million were already vaccinated, nothing will happen to them),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Not purchased by gov\u2019t<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roque, meanwhile, appealed to the public not to deny members of the military from receiving vaccines early, noting that as front-liners they deserved to receive protection against Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuwag niyo naman pong ipagkait sa ating mga sundalo kung nagkaroon sila ng proteksyon. Tanggapin na lang po natin na importante na yung ating kasundaluhan, yung mga nagbabantay sa ating seguridad ay ligtas na sa<\/em>\u00a0Covid\u00a0nang magampanan nila ang kanilang trabaho<\/em>\u00a0(Do not deny the protection needed by our soldiers. Let’s just accept that our military is important, those who guard our security are safe from Covid so they can do their jobs),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also said the Sinopharm vaccines were not purchased by government, so these \u201cmust have been donated\u201d but could not say who gave the vaccines.<\/p>\n

In a public address on Saturday night, Duterte said some Filipinos, including military personnel, have been inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHalos lahat ng sundalo natusukan na<\/em>\u00a0(Almost all soldiers were inoculated with a vaccine). I have to be frank and I have to tell the truth. I will not foist a lie.\u00a0Marami nang nagpatusok and lahat<\/em>\u00a0(Many have been inoculated),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte said he wanted members of the military to be among the first to receive the vaccine because he did not want \u201csickly\u201d military or police force.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason why is that they have to be in good health all the time because they are responsible for the law and order of this country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Interior Secretary Eduardo A\u00f1o also confirmed that some members of the Cabinet, as well as the Presidential Security Group (PSG) have been inoculated against Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Senators earlier cast doubt over the reported 50-percent effectivity rate of the Sinopharm vaccine in trials in Brazil. They also noted the Sinopharm vaccine is more expensive than other brands.<\/p>\n

Under Republic Act 9711, the manufacture, importation, exportation, sale, offering for sale, distribution, transfer, non-consumer use, promotion, advertising or sponsorship of health products without proper authorization is prohibited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Monday defended the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) after some military personnel received Chinese pharmaceutical company …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":269140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279865","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279866,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279865\/revisions\/279866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}