By Alec Go
President Rodrigo Duterte said in his Monday (Aug. 2) public address that he will personally witness the arrival on Tuesday night of three million Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by the government of the United States through the COVAX global facility.
This donation follows the delivery of 3.2 million doses donated Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccines from the U.S. government last month, also through COVAX.
“Give and take lang tayo. Pasalamat tayo sa kanila. May naibigay naman ako sa kanila na concession. I conceded to the continuance of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA),” Duterte said.
“I’d like to thank the President of the United States Biden, the government and the people of America for not forgetting us. Do not forget us because we share the same outlook sa geopolitics dito sa — especially Southeast Asia,” he added.
On July 30, Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana announced that Duterte decided to recall the abrogation of the VFA following a bilateral meeting with U.S. Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin in Malacañang on July 29.
Supply issue
The Chief Executive brought up the issue of limited vaccine supply in response to local government units’ call for additional doses to cover their priority beneficiaries.
He said the government remains committed “to protect all Filipinos,” but areas considered as hot spots for COVID-19 remain the priority.
“Ang problema dito, ang supply po — wala talaga, kulang. Kaya inuuna natin ang mga lugar na sinabi ko na where the transmission can be really faster than the usual places na wala masyadong tao,” he said.
“Kung parami nang parami ‘yan, it will be distributed to all of the government units, including the far-flung areas na hindi na maabot. We will see to it, I’m sure Secretary [Carlito] Galvez [Jr.] will see to it that dadating ang mga bakuna doon,” he added.
As of Aug. 1, the Philippines has already administered more than 20 million vaccine doses.
However, vaccine czar Galvez said there is currently a challenge on completing the vaccination of senior citizens due to hesitancy on their part. – jlo
WATCH: President Rodrigo Duterte’s August 2, 2021 Talk to the Nation
