MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte thanked Russia late Monday night for an offer to supply a COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available.
Duterte has repeatedly said that Filipinos will need to cooperate with authorities enforcing quarantine protocols and bear the effects of the pandemic until a vaccine is developed.
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He said he was very happy that Russia would supply the vaccine "and they are not talking about any payment."
"Ito tingin ko kay President (Vladimir) Putin, tulong niya sa atin ng libre (I view this as President Putin's help to us for free)," he said.
He said he and Putin would still discuss the details of the clinical trial for the vaccine.
"Well, mag-injection muna tayo ng iilan tapos tingnan natin ang resulta (We will inject it in some people and we will look at the results)," he said.
The president also tasked Health Secretary Francisco Duque III "to look for the best guy to be given the [task of handling] the transfer of tehcnology of the vaccine."
Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Igor Khovaev is quoted in news reports as saying over the weekend that Russia has developed a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19 and is only waiting for the Philippines to accept its offer.
He also said that the applications have been filed at the Philippine Food and Drug Administration.
"It means that we are ready to combine our efforts, we are ready to make necessary investments together with our Philippine partners and we are ready to share our technologies simply because we want to build a robust partnership between our two nations," he also reportedly said.
"May tiwala ako na di sila nagkamali... Kung puwede sa akin, puwede sa lahat. Kung hindi puwede sa akin, 'yan ang problema," Duterte said Monday, claiming he would be the first to test the vaccine.
(I trust that they have not made a mistake. If it works on me, it will work on all. If it doesn't work on me, then that is a problem)
The president also said that the vaccine will be "distributed worldwide by September or October."
According to guidelines on clinical trials set by the US Food and Drug Administration, Phase 1 of clinical trials usually involve 20 to 100 volunteers and last for "several months."
Phase 2 will involve "up to several hundred people with the disease [or] condition" and can last between several months to two years.
Phase 3 clinical trials involve "300 to 3,000 volunteers who have the disease or condition" and can take from a year to four years.
Phase 4 trials, which test for safety and efficacy, involve "several thousand volunteers."