Duterte says Filipinos can't choose which brand of COVID-19 vaccine to receive
President Rodrigo Duterte has reminded the Filipinos that they could not choose the brand of vaccine that could be inoculated to them.
Duterte also directed National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. to ensure that the distribution of vaccines would be taken "with a blind eye on the brand."
"I told Secretary Galvez, whoever is in charge (of the vaccine), get it. Don't peep into (the boxes to determine if it's) Moderna or Pfizer or AstraZeneca because I won't allow it," he said in the second part of his pre-recorded "Talk to the People," which was only aired on Tuesday.
"Whether you are poor or rich, if you want (to be vaccinated), go to the vaccination sites. If you are there in that community, go there and have yourselves (vaccinated) by any of the vaccines available. They are all potent. They are all effective," Duterte said.
In some vaccination sites in Metro Manila like Paranaque and Manila, many people queued for Pfizer vaccine, which recently arrived through COVAX facility.
Other available vaccines in the country are Sinovac, AstraZeneca, and Sputnik V.
As of May 15, the total administered COVID-19 vaccine doses reached 3,114,847 among healthcare workers, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities, and a few economic frontliners. Celerina Monte/DMS
