He is up for the challenge, y’all.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a television interview today that he is willing to be one of the first Filipinos to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
In an interview on the news program Headstart, the embattled government official said that he is open to take it as long as it was approved by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), two government agencies tasked to review any COVID-19 vax that will be used in the Philippines.
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“Yes, definitely. That’s a no brainer. I’ll take it for as long as it has undergone the scientific evaluation by the DOST’s vaccine experts panel and the ethics board review and the FDA’s own technical and regulatory evaluation. I’ll take it,” Duque said.
“Yes, sure [I will get vaccinated]. No problem. I can also get and encourage all my fellow Cabinet members, all the other officials of government to join me,” he added.
This was his response to a challenge given by pro-administration Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, who said last week that Duque and “vaccine czar” Carlito Galvez Jr. should take the coronavirus jab to prove to Filipinos that the drug is safe. Some critics have joked, however, that Go and President Rodrigo Duterte should also be among the first to get the vax.
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The FDA said last week that the vaccine could be available in the country by March, but only if drug manufacturers apply for a license by next month. The government aims to vaccinate about 60 to 70 million people in three to five years. This includes 35 million people in a “priority list,” composed of healthcare workers, police, military, indigents, and essential workers in the Departments of Education and Social Work and Development.
The Philippines has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, with 439,834 cases including 8,554 deaths and 408,634 recoveries.
