FDA, DOH: Inoculated sulfur covered by vaccine smuggling probe

Health officials said on Tuesday they would expand their investigation of an unauthorized vaccine that was smuggled into the country to include columnist Ramon Tulfo, who recently revealed he had received two injections from a Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company.

Tulfo said in his Manila Times column last Saturday that he had already received two doses of the vaccine produced by the China National Pharmaceutical Group, popularly known as Sinopharm, along with members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and “some government officials” last October. year.

“It will be investigated, because it is not good that there are individuals who get vaccinated without going through the correct process and with an unauthorized vaccine,” said Eric Domingo, director general of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on Wednesday Laging Handa briefing.

The FDA is already investigating the PSG for using a vaccine that it has not yet approved. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the shots for President Duterte’s bodyguards were made by Sinopharm and donated as a “symbol”. He did not identify the donor.

Under-Secretary of Health Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a separate statement that the ongoing investigation of the illegal vaccine would now include Tulfo. “If there are violations, there will be sanctions,” she said.

No explanation for PSG

Domingo said PSG has not yet responded to letters from the FDA and the Department of Health (DOH) demanding an explanation for the illegal use of the Sinopharm vaccine.

Sinopharm said that in December last year, its vaccine proved to be 79.34 percent effective in protecting people from the coronavirus.

Tulfo, who was appointed by Duterte as his special envoy to China, said he “risked” his life by receiving the vaccines to test the effectiveness of the Sinopharm vaccine, as he wanted to be one of its distributors in the country.

He said in an interview with One News PH three days after publishing his column that he saw no “conflict of interest” in trying to gain authority as a distributor as a special envoy. In addition, he said, the title was only “honorific” and he was still a private citizen.

A source at the Department of Foreign Affairs told the Inquirer that even if Tulfo still had that title, the country’s laws applied to him as a Filipino here in the country.

Reacting to reports of Tulfo’s actions, but not referring to him by name, Aileen Lizada, commissioner of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), said that “civil servants are not above the law”.

“In fact, the recent disclosure made by a public official about the use of an unregistered product and the plan to become a Sinopharm dealer puts the public official’s duty towards the public to the test,” said Lizada in a note.

“Although the aforementioned public official is beyond the disciplinary authority of the CSC by being a presidential nominee, it is incumbent on him, as with any other public official, to act and conduct himself in a manner worthy of being called a public official,” she said.

Lizada cited the Law of the Republic No. 9,711, or the Food and Drug Administration Law of 2009, and the Law of the Republic No. 8203, or the special counterfeiting law, which requires registration before any medicine or product can be used. by the public.

At present, the FDA has granted an emergency use authorization (USA) to only three vaccine manufacturers COVID-19 – Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sinovac.

It also allowed PSG to use 10,000 doses of Sinopharm under a compassionate use license, but that would not be retroactive and would not cover last year’s illegal vaccinations.

‘VIP vaccination’

Deputy minority leader of the House and Bayan Muna representative Carlos Isagani Zarate on Wednesday urged House leaders to begin their own investigation of the “VIP vaccination” of uniformed officials and civil servants after Tulfo’s revelations in his column .

“It appears that it is not just the Presidential Security Group that has been vaccinated VIP, but also other government officials using contraband vaccines, based on Tulfo’s confession,” said Zarate.

Makabayan Chamber Resolution No. 1451 seeking a Congressional inquiry into “VIP vaccination” has not been scheduled for a hearing.

“Investigating this anomaly would also eliminate rumors that even Cabinet members and members of Congress were also among those already inoculated with Tulfo,” he said.

Bayan Muna deputy Ferdinand Gaite said Tulfo’s use of smuggled vaccines should be a reason to deny him any license to distribute Sinopharm vaccines.

“There are no vaccines for people, but the Duterte government allies only smuggle vaccines and enjoy VIP vaccination. Instead of being ashamed to do something wrong, he boasted about it, ”said the legislator.

Gaite warned against allowing Tulfo to go unpunished with his admission and that the people should not just be warned to “move on” with the matter.

“Health professionals and front-lines are still waiting to be vaccinated. Meanwhile, Duterte’s men are smuggling vaccines left and right and being secretly vaccinated. The government blames their shortcomings in the supply chain, but apparently they are not encountering problems in the supply of smuggled vaccines, ”he said when requesting an investigation into Tulfo’s claims.

Domingo also resisted Tulfo’s claim that the FDA was blocking the entry of the Sinopharm vaccine into the country.

Sinopharm, which has no local distributor in the Philippines, has not applied for a US or compassionate use license, he said.

“Sinopharm asked us who can apply for a USA, but so far they haven’t submitted any orders,” he said. “We accept all applications for free.”

Palace stand

Roque said on Wednesday that Malacañang would leave it to the FDA to investigate Tulfo’s claims.

“In this pandemic time, I understand that many want protection. But what we are saying to everyone is: we will wait for it to go through the process, for our own interest, ”he said at a news conference.

“We are waiting for FDA action on these things,” added Roque.

Asked whether there was a conflict of interest between Tulfo’s actions and being a special envoy, he said: “We have no opinion. We left that to the Ombudsman. ”

President Duterte preferred the Sinopharm vaccine for him and his family and spoke directly on the phone with a company representative to obtain “samples” of the vaccines, according to Tulfo.

But Roque said he could not confirm Tulfo’s report, adding that he did not hear the conversation between the columnist and the president because he was in another room.

“I am not denying anything that Mon Tulfo said. What I am saying is that this is his article, ask him, not me, ”he said.

—With reports by Jerome Aning, Julie M. Aurelio, Nikka G. Valenzuela, Tina G. Santos and Inquirer Research

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