By Karen Lema and Neil Jerome Morales
MANILA (Reuters) – Some Filipino soldiers and cabinet ministers have already received injections of the COVID-19 vaccine, officials said on Monday, despite the lack of regulatory approval that the country’s health ministry said was vital to ensuring security.
Interior Minister Eduardo Ano said that some cabinet members have already received COVID-19 vaccines and the army chief, Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, said some soldiers had been vaccinated, but the number was not large. Neither said which brand of vaccine was administered.
The health ministry in a statement said that all vaccines must first be evaluated by experts, and “only vaccines that have been approved and found to be safe should be administered”.
Food and Drug Administration chief Rolando Enrique Domingo said Philippine regulators have yet to approve any COVID-19 vaccine, making it illegal to import, distribute and sell a vaccine.
Domingo warned the public that unapproved vaccines expose them to “all kinds of dangers” and told CNN Philippines that side effects are possible “especially if you don’t know how these things were treated”.
So far, only Pfizer has applied for approval for the emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines, while requests for end-stage tests by Sinovac, Gamaleya, Johnson & Johnson and Clans Janssen have not yet been approved.
Undersecretary of Health, Maria Rosario Vergeire, said the ministry had no information on the vaccination of soldiers and military spokesman Colonel Edgard Arevalo said no inoculation was sanctioned by the leadership of the armed forces.
Arevalo said the recipients included members of a special security unit assigned to President Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte was not vaccinated, according to his spokesman, Harry Roque, who said he had no problems with soldiers being vaccinated and protecting themselves.
Duterte, during a televised meeting with health officials on Saturday, said that “almost all” soldiers have already been vaccinated.
He said “many” without identifying who in the Philippines had received a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).
Sinopharm could not be reached for comment.
Asked whether the military’s vaccination was authorized by the president’s office, Sobejana said: “Well, of course our president is our commander in chief.”
(Additional reporting by Roxanne Liu in Beijing; Editing by Martin Petty)