Duterte is first elected official to complete authorized Sinopharm vaccination
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night became the first elected government official to publicly complete vaccination with the Sinopharm vaccine, a jab authorized in the Philippines only in very specific circumstances.
The Food and Drug Administration in June issued an Emergency Use Authorization for the batch of vaccines made by the Chinese state-owned pharma firm and later donated for use by the Presidential Security Group, members of which had already received doses in September.
The FDA, which regulates the use of vaccines, had not authorized the PSG's vaccination of its own personnel and efforts to investigate the illicit inoculation were blocked by an order from the president for his security unit to keep quiet about it.
Experts, when Duterte disclosed the PSG vaccination last December, warned that it would set a dangerous precedent for "other drug distributors, manufacturers and those who plan to bring any drug into the Philippines."
Dr. Benjamin Co, an infectious diseases expert, said then that "[we] need to divulge who slipped the vaccines inside the country, how many doses and how it was done."
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in March that there was no record of the smuggled vaccines passing through customs. Citing findings by the National Bureau of Investigation, he said then that the doses may have been brought into the Philippines "in a luggage, carry-on bag, etc. Maybe through a private flight too."
RELATED: Probe update: Smuggled vaccines did not go through customs
The World Health Organization in May approved the Sinopharm vaccine for Emergency Use Listing, a move that would pave the way for global use.
Rep. Ronaldo Zamora (San Juan) on Monday disclosed that he had also received what he called "bootleg" Sinopharm vaccines last December.
"Sino nakakuha ng Sinopharm sa Pilipinas? Isa roon si Presidente. Pareho pinagkunan namin, pareho kaming bootleg, (Who received Sinopharm in the Philippines? One of them is the president. We got ours from the same source, we both got 'bootleg' vaccines)" GMA News quotes him as saying at a vaccination event in San Juan City.
He said he has since received "booster shots", a practice that the Department of Health said Monday is not authorized and could mean sanctions for medical workers who administer them.
The Palace said in December that there is no penalty for people who receive unauthorized vaccines, only for those who sell, distribute or administer them.
In February, columnist Mon Tulfo told ONE News' "The Chiefs" that he received smuggled vaccines too, adding he got them from a friend who smuggled the Sinopharm doses into the country.
He said then that others who were inoculated with the smuggled vaccines were "Cabinet-level" officials and a senator whose names he withheld. He said some members of the Presidential Security Group were also inoculated with the same vaccine.
"I don't feel guilty about it," the columnist said.
Black market for vaccines
The admission came in the same month that the Philippine National Police said it was acting to track down smuggled and unauthorized vaccines that may be being sold on the black market.
"I have taken to task the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Intelligence Group, and other National Operational Support Units to organize operating teams that will launch operations to prevent the entry, distribution, and sale of COVID-19 vaccines without proper authorization from the concerned government agencies," Debold Sinas, Philippine National Police chief at the time, is quoted in a February 11 Philippine News Agency report, as saying.
The Washington Post in January reported on underground distribution of smuggled vaccines, saying the black market trade "exposes pandemic inequalities and problems with immunization drives in places plagued by corruption and patronage."
Police Gen. Guillermo Eleazar in June warned the public that is illegal to buy unauthorized vaccines. "We are warning the people not to patronize these sellers because you will be charged for this," he said then. — Jonathan de Santos
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