President Rodrigo R. Duterte assured that, in spite of the controversies, the public must not worry about the government’s procurement of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines.
“Sabi ni Avisado may pera raw. Sabi ni Dominguez may pera. Oh ‘di kaya natin. So walang problema. Ano ba ang problemahin natin? Sabi ko nga sa inyo huwag kayong makinig diyan sa mga radyo. Walang ginawa ‘yan kung hindi mag-intriga, magsira. Dito lang. Makinig lang kayo sa akin (Avisado said there is money. Dominguez said there is money. So we can do it. So there’s no problem. What is our problem? I told you not to listen to radios because all they do is to [create] intrigues, discredit. Just here. Just listen to me),” the President urged.
The Chief Executive also pointed out that “there is as yet no Pfizer vaccines available for the Philippines. And for a long time, wala pa. Binabakunahan pa ang mga Amerikano lahat. Tayo, well, wala man tayo masyadong ano. ‘Yung pera lang natin pambili lang talaga (And for a long time, there is nothing yet. All Americans are still being vaccinated. For us, well, we don’t have any. We only have the money to buy [the vaccine]) but we do not have the clout because we are not a rich nation.”
Meanwhile, the government has further strengthened its response against COVID-19 to control the spread of the disease.
According to Department of Health (DOH) Sec. Francisco Duque III, “sinabihan na po namin sila, Mr. President, na hindi puwedeng magsara ang mga (we ordered them not to close the) laboratories during this time. They have to be fully operational, Mr. President. Kami muli ay nananawagan sa atensyon ng ating mga LGU: Doblehin. Doblehin po ang pag-iingat. (We are again calling the attention of our LGUs to double up. Double up the monitoring.)” – Report from Mela Lesmoras
