MANILA – Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines from China were not less effective than those made in the United States or Europe, according to President Rodrigo Duterte.
During his address to the public on Wednesday night, President Duterte defended testing czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., to order the COVID-19 vaccine made by Sinovac Biotech amid criticisms about its efficacy.
“Now the bakuna that Secretary Galvez is buying is as good as any other bakuna na naimbento ng mga Amerikano o mga Europeans. Hindi nagkulang ang Chinese, hindi sila nagkulang sa utak,” Duterte said.
“Bright itong mga instik at they would not venture kung hindi sapat, it is not safe, sure, and secure,” he added. “It does not mean to say that the Americans, or the Europeans, the EU, are better than the Chinese.”
The country’s chief executive also stressed that he is not forcing local government officials from getting the same vaccine brand if they have the resources to buy from other pharmaceutical companies.
“Maraming local government units who opted to go on their own. Sila ang magbili, may pera sila, at sila ang mamili ng kanilang vaccine,” Duterte said. “You can choose any vaccine you like to buy.”
“We are not forcing anybody to join the cause of the national government. Hindi namin pinipilit na sumali kayo sa ibibigay na bakuna ng national government,” he added.
The coronavirus vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac only showed a “general efficacy” of 50.4 percent in a late-stage trial in Brazil, the company’s local partners said Tuesday.
Piecemeal disclosure from global studies of the vaccine, called CoronaVac, have added to concerns that immunizations developed by Chinese producers are not subject to the same public scrutiny as US and European alternatives./PN
