SINOPHARM PULLOUT ORDERED

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday night ordered the withdrawal of COVID-19 vaccines developed by Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm.

Despite having received the first dose of the vaccine brand himself, Duterte said he told an “ambassador” that he wanted the vaccines pulled out over concerns that the Sinopharm vaccine has yet to be cleared for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to a PNA report

“Just before this meeting started, I had a talk with the ambassador. Sabi ko sa kanya, ‘Ang mga experts nagsabi na, o wala pang ano ito, ‘di pa dumaan ng examination sa atin. Ang binigay lang (I told him, ‘Experts are saying it did not go through examinations here. They just gave it) compassionate use which is really a legal excuse.’ Compassionate use. Ibig sabihin, magamit mo (This means you can use it). Compassionate. Kaya lang (But), maybe it's not acceptable to them but it's legal actually,” he said in a public address. Duterte did not identify the ambassador but might have been referring to Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian.

“Sabi ko (I said) ‘Tanggalin mo nalang, you withdraw all Sinopharm vaccines. One thousand of them. Huwag ka nalang magpadala ng Sinopharm dito parang walang gulo (Don’t send Sinopharm vaccines here so there’s no issue),” he added.

Some medical experts, he said, are also concerned over the “dangers” of Sinopharm’s use. A Chinese vaccine expert earlier referred to Sinopharm as the "most unsafe vaccine in the world," after it was found to produce 73 side effects.

“The fact that may konting ano na hindi dumaan, para walang ano, tanggalin nalang natin (The fact that there are some concerns that it did not go through examination so that there’s no issue, let’s just pull them out),” he said.

He then asked the envoy to provide COVID-19 vaccines produced by another Chinese drugmaker, Sinovac Biotech: “Bigay mo nalang sa amin yung Sinovac na ginagamit sa lahat (Just give us Sinovac being used by everyone).”

The Philippines has already received 3.5 doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine, including 1 million doses donated by the Chinese government. He said removing Sinopharm from the country’s current COVID-19 vaccine supply would not make much of a difference. “One thousand vaccines lang 'yan (It’s only a thousand vaccine doses). It would not make a dent sa (in our) supply,” he said.

Malacañang earlier said China donated an additional 1,000 doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines in addition to the 10,000 doses expected to be donated to members of Duterte’s close-in security detail.

Apology

Duterte also apologized over criticism that he received Sinopharm, saying he “accepted” that the drug has yet to receive an emergency use authorization (EUA) from local regulators. “We are sorry that we committed the things that you are criticizing us for. We accept responsibility. At ako mismo nagpaturok (I got myself vaccinated) it's the decision of my doctor. Anyway it's my life,” he said.

He acknowledged that he received his first dose of Sinopharm on Monday, but noted that it is better to avoid issues by withdrawing the said vaccine. “You are right, we are wrong. Ang Sinopharm maybe tomorrow or the following day, wala na 'yan (Sinopharm will be gone by tomorrow or the following day). I made it as a personal request,” he said.

He, however, insisted that his use of Sinopharm is “legal”.

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