MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday stated that there is no “excess” of Covid-19 vaccines, there are just some Filipinos who refuse to get vaccinated.
Duterte made the remark in response to concerns over the expiration of 27 million Covid-19 vaccines in July.
“Kung may mga Pilipino marami pa hindi pa nakapagbakuna o ayaw makipagbakuna e hindi naman kasalanan ng gobyerno (If there are many Filipinos that have not been vaccinated yet or refuse to get vaccinated, it’s not the government’s fault),” he said in a prerecorded Talk to the People.
He stressed that the government procured the right number of doses for the target population for inoculation.
“Kung sabihin na sobra sobra ang bakuna, hindi sobra sobra ang bakuna. Kung estimated natin na 100 million, 100 million ang ating inorder. Hindi tayo puwede magkulang. Di na bale mag sobra (If they say there’s an excess of vaccines, it is not an excess. If we estimated vaccines for 100 million, we ordered 100 million. We cannot have a shortage. Never mind if there is more than enough),” he added.
The best way to avoid Covid-19 vaccine wastage, Duterte said, is to either donate them to other countries or conduct house-to-house vaccinations.
“So itong mga bakuna mag expire, either ibigay natin ito sa mga countries na wala pa or siguraduhin natin na ano nalang, we will embark in a program, last-minute na mag house-to-house nalang sa mga barangay (So these vaccines that are about to expire, we can give them to other countries that do not have them or we will embark in a program, last minute to conduct house to house vaccination in barangays),” he said.
According to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, the estimated vaccine wastage rate in the country is now at 1.54 percent. This figure is the 10 percent indicative wastage rate used by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Around 67 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as of April 2.
The government intends to completely vaccinate at least 77 million Filipinos in the first quarter of 2022, and 90 million by the end of the second quarter.
Don’t derail vax drive
Meanwhile, Duterte reiterated his call for communist rebels to refrain from disrupting the government’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign in rural areas.
“Kayong mga NPA [New People’s Army], huwag ninyo barahin yung mga tao na aakyat diyan, especially the health workers (You NPA, do not prevent people from going up there, especially the health workers),” he said.
The NPA rebels may also line up for free Covid-19 jabs “on the grounds of humanity,” he said.
“Kung gusto ninyo magpabakuna, ipasali ko kayo pero huwag ninyo (If you want to get vaccinated, I will include you but)…do not derail the program. That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” he stated.
Duterte asked the communist rebels to surrender, saying the government would offer them with free housing and other livelihood.
“You surrender, drop your weapons tapos mag-usap tayo. May bahay kayo, may trabaho (then let’s talk. You will be given housing, work), TESDA [Technical Education And Skills Development Authority] would teach you new skills that you do not know,” he added.
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