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Philippines’ Duterte Threatens To Expel US Military If US Companies Do Not Ship Covid Vaccines
āŖ President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines threatened to cut ties between his nationās military and Americaās ā in existence since the Philippines declared independence from Spain ā this weekend if Washington did not ship Manila at least 20 million doses of experimental vaccines for the Chinese coronavirus…
Duterte made the remark amid a brewing scandal over his governmentās failure to obtain significant quantities of any vaccine or vaccine candidate. According to theĀ Philippine Star, Manila held talks with Pfizer, which developed the first FDA-approved coronavirus vaccine in the United States, to import 10 million doses, but could not come to an agreement, leaving the Philippines empty-handed. Duterteās government reportedly secured a deal with Pfizer competitor Moderna following that incident.
Duterte has disparaged Americaās ability to develop a functional pharmaceutical and offered to take āSputnik V,ā an experimental Russian medical cocktail, instead, but has failed to do so as, at 75, he is too old to be considered a safe candidate for the product.
Duterteās administration caused a popular outcry this weekend after the revelation surfaced that, despite Duterteās failure to secure large quantities of any vaccine candidate and the Philippines Food and Drug Administration (FDA) failing to approve any, several senior politicians have received doses against the Chinese coronavirus.
The Philippines has documented nearly half a million cases of Chinese coronavirus since the pandemic began in late 2019. Of these patients, 9,214 people have died as of Monday.
DuterteĀ threatenedĀ the United States during a meeting late on Saturday. āIf they canāt deliver at least 20 million doses at a minimum, they better get out,ā Duterte said, apparently addressing all American pharmaceutical companies in general. āNo vaccine, no stay here.ā
While demanding millions of doses of American vaccines, Duterte took a moment during the meeting to claim America is incompetent at developing vaccines. āDo not believe in that shit about America that they can deliver immediately,ā Duterte declared. āIāve been with [the] government ā I have dealt with them many times.ā
Several Philippine senators reacted to Duterteās remarks with embarrassment. āNational interest must be the only consideration for a VFA [Visiting Forces Agreement],ā Senator Richard Gordon asserted in a statement on Monday. āāNo vaccine, no VFAā threat upon the U.S. is totally inappropriate, mercenary and lessens the dignity of the Philippines.ā
Senator Panfilo LacsonĀ accusedĀ Duterte of ātreating the Americans like a bunch of yokelsā and lamented that berating Washington may result in Filipinos having to resort to using Coronavac, which initial tests suggest is much less effective than the Pfizer or Moderna options.
āWhat is more unfortunate is that we had a good chance to procure vaccines early from the US,Ā but someone from our side dropped the ballĀ and has yet to be held accountable up to this day,ā LacsonĀ added, insisting there had to be a āmore diplomatic or at least a better way of asking a longtime ally to help us avail of the vaccines for our people without sounding like we are blackmailing our way into it.ā
At press time, Duterteās government has secured 2.6 million vaccine candidate doses fromĀ AstraZeneca, which developed a candidate with the University of Oxford. TheĀ Philippine StarĀ noted that those vaccines are a ādonation from the private sector.ā The Philippines has a population of 107 million people.
Moderna will reportedly add another 25 million doses to the meager supply currently secured, according to the Philippines embassy in America. Unlike Astrazeneca, the Moderna experimental vaccine is currently in wide distribution in the United States, receiving an emergency use authorization from the American FDA.
Japanās NikkeiĀ detailedĀ the collapse of the Pfizer deal this week:
Earlier this month, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Manila had secured 10 million doses of Pfizer vaccine with the help of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The vaccine would have been ready for shipment in January 2021 but the deal fell through after Health Secretary Francisco Duque supposedly ādropped the ball.ā
However, Duque denied the allegation and said there had never been a firm commitment from the U.S. pharmaceutical giant.
The Philippines is also reportedly negotiating for doses of āSputnik Vā ā which international medical experts have warned has received insufficient testing for mass distribution ā and CoronaVac, an experimental vaccine candidate from Chinese company Sinovac. Duterte claimed that āSputnik Vā would be a free donation from Russia in August, but no new updates have surfaced regarding its status.
The Philippinesā failure to properly acquire vaccine candidate doses led to even more outrage on Monday whenĀ Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo AƱoĀ confirmedĀ that, despite the Philippine FDA failing to approve any vaccine candidate and the government ādropping the ballā on acquiring doses for the general public, members of Duterteās cabinet and high ranking military officials had already received vaccine candidate doses.
AƱo was responding to Duterte revealing on Saturday that a āselect fewā senior government and military members had received a vaccine candidate. He did not specify which, though the Philippine Inquirer said the candidate was a Chinese-made one.
āAlmost all of the soldiers have been stabbed,ā Duterte said this weekend, in Filipino. AƱo claimed that those receiving the product were āfrontlinersā with the president and that the product used had received an āemergency use authorizationā from the government. The FDA has not granted any in that country and only one company, Pfizer, has applied for one.
Following AƱoās declaration,Ā Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana similarlyĀ confirmedĀ that soldiers had received vaccine candidates on Monday. Sobejana said that Duterte personally made the decision, but also did not disclose what product was administered or to whom. There is no evidence at press time that health workers were among those receiving the vaccine candidates.
FDA Director-General Eric Domingo responded to popular outrage about the use of unapproved drugs by claiming that taking an unapproved drug is not illegal. āThereās nothing we can do about it, itās a personal choice. But it is illegal to import an unregistered drug, to distribute it, and for a doctor or a medical practitioner or any health personnel to administer unlicensed drugs in the country,ā heĀ toldĀ CNN Philippines.
He vowed that the FDA would go after individuals trafficking in alleged vaccines from China, presumably not including Duterte.āŖ
