Lorenzana admits Sinopharm vaccines used by Duterte’s security detail were smuggled
MANILA, Philippines — Amid continued uproar over the unauthorized inoculation of the president's top men, National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday confirmed that the COVID-19 vaccines used by the Presidential Security Group entered the country illegally.
"Yes, it’s smuggled," Lorenzana told ABS-CBN, referring to the Sinopharm vaccines used by the PSG, during a ceremony held in commemoration of Rizal Day.
"Because its not authorized to enter here. Only the government can authorize that through the [Food and Drug Administration],” he further explained.
'I don't know'
While Lorenzana knows the vaccines were smuggled, he copped to not knowing much else.
"As far as we knew then, the rumor spreading was that PSG had already been vaccinated. Who authorized it, we did not ask. It is only now that those facts are coming out that the vaccine is not yet authorized in the Philippines," he said in Filipino.
No coronavirus vaccine has been approved by the country's FDA — any inoculation effort thus far would have made use of an unauthorized vaccine. It is unclear if Lorenzana knows this.
In keeping with every single official questioned over the matter, Lorenzana maintained that he also did not know who gave the Sinopharm doses to the government.
Despite his position as defense secretary, he was also unwilling to weigh in on the PSG's invocation of its duty to defend the president to justify its bypassing of the law. "I don't know the answer to that," he said in Filipino when asked about the matter.
Illegal but 'justified'?
When asked if he would take action on the matter as defense secretary, Lorenzana implied that he would not be doing much at all. "PSG just really need to explain why they did that. It is justified. Anyway, the vaccine is not fake, it is real," he said.
Again, it is unclear why Lorenzana made this pronouncement regarding the Sinopharm vaccine. While it has received authorization for emergency use in some countries including the United Arab Emirates, Argentina and Morocco, the Peruvian government suspended its own trials citing a “serious adverse event” which occurred among the volunteers of its study. In addition to this, the Philippines has not conducted its own trials for the Sinopharm jabs and is not expected to receive any vaccines at all until March 2021.
"Maybe explain that to the FDA because they violated the FDA rules," the defense chief said in Filipino. FDA chief Eric Domingo said the move was done without consulting them or the health department, and even Secretary Francisco Duque III was surprised to find about the development.
Bureau of Customs spokesperson Vincent Maronilla said no communications were made to them that vaccines would be transported inside borders but stopped short of calling them smuggled, citing a lack of details. But, he recognized that if the items were misdeclared, it would be tantamount to technical smuggling — or, as defined by law in the Philippines, importing goods through "fraudulent, falsified or erroneous declarations."
Adding to public confusion, Brig. Gen. Jesus P. Durante, PSG commander, during an interview with ANC's "Headstart" on Thursday refused to reveal exactly how many members of the president's security detail have been inoculated. He also refused to reveal if he was among those who received the unregulated vaccine.
Immediately following Lorenzana's acknowledgement of the smuggling of the Sinopharm vaccines into the country, Sen. Francis Pangilinan slammed it as a continued consequence of what he called the lack of a coherent and equitable game plan on the control and management of the disease.
"It is unfortunate that even though there is vaccine czar [Carlito] Galvez who I believe is capable and should be in charge of the vaccine rollout, officials are still acting individually and have conflicting explanations on legality," he said in Filipino.
"We cannot do this individually. The lives of millions of our countrymen are at stake. The livelihoods of millions of our hungry countrymen also depend on economic recovery which depends on the proper implementation of the vaccine rollout nationwide. We can't make mistakes here," Pangilinan added.
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— with a report from Christian Deiparine
Pharma giants Sanofi and GSK said on July 29, 2020, that they have agreed to supply Britain with up to 60 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine. The agreement covers a vaccine candidate developed by France's Sanofi in partnership with the UK's GSK and is subject to a "final contract."
This thread collects some of the major developments in the search for a vaccine to ease the new coronavirus pandemic. (Main photo by AFP/Joel Saget)
As negotiations towards a new pandemic treaty pick up pace, observers warn of watered-down efforts to ensure equitable access to the medical products needed to battle future Covid-like threats.
Shaken by the pandemic, the World Health Organization's 194 member states are negotiating an international accord aimed at ensuring countries are better equipped to deal with the next catastrophe, or even prevent it altogether.
The process is still in the early stages, with the aim of reaching an agreement by May 2024.
But critics warn that revisions being made to the preliminary negotiating text are weakening the language -- notably in a key area aimed at preventing the rampant inequity seen in access to vaccines and other medical products during the Covid pandemic.
"I think it is a real step backwards," Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told AFP. — AFP
Africa's first mRNA vaccine hub is ceremonially launched on Thursday to acclaim from the UN's global health chief, who hailed it as a historic shift to help poor countries gain access to life-saving jabs.
The facility was set up in the South African city of Cape Town in 2021 on the back of the success of revolutionary anti-Covid vaccines introduced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
"This precious project... will bring a paradigm shift in addressing the serious problem we faced, the equity problem, during the pandemic, so (that) it's not repeated again," World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells a media briefing to mark the inauguration. — AFP
China has approved its first locally developed messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine against Covid-19, its manufacturer said Wednesday, months after the relaxation of strict Covid-zero regulations sparked a surge in cases.
The vaccine, developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd, has been approved for "emergency use" by Beijing's health regulator, the company said in a statement.
It showed high efficacy in a trial in which it was used as a booster shot for people who have been given other types of vaccines, the company added, without offering further details. — AFP
COVID-19 vaccine maker Novavax raises doubts about its ability to continue its business, announcing plans to cut spending after struggles in rolling out its coronavirus jab.
Shares of Novavax plummeted 25 percent in extended trading, after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates.
While the firm should have enough money to fund operations, the situation is "subject to significant uncertainty," it says in a statement. — AFP
The protection against Covid-19 from being previously infected lasts at least as long as that offered by vaccination, one of the largest studies conducted on the subject says.
Ten months after getting Covid, people still had an 88% lower risk of reinfection, hospitalisation and death, according to the study published in the Lancet journal.
That makes this natural immunity "at least as durable, if not more so" than two doses of Pfizer or Moderna's vaccines, the study says.
The authors nevertheless emphasized that their findings should not discourage vaccination, which remains the safest way to get immunity. — AFP
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