Palace cool, Robredo open to vaccine infomercial with Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang is lukewarm to the idea of having President Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo, who has already expressed her willingness, in one infomercial to encourage Filipinos to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. yesterday thumbed down the proposal floated by Sen. Joel Villanueva, saying the two top officials have differences on their preferred vaccines, among other issues.He pointed out that Robredo has questioned the efficacy of Chinese-made vaccines, which the President has been openly promoting over the ones developed by Western countries.

“In the past, VP Leni questioned the use of Chinese vaccine. So, I think I cannot see that she would endorse all the vaccines. If she can do that, maybe, (a joint infomercial) can be possible,” Roque said.

But Barry Gutierrez, Robredo’s spokesman, said the VP “has always been open to any efforts to further encourage our countrymen to get vaccinated.”

“So, if someone really reaches out to her to have a joint infomercial with President Duterte to further entice our countrymen to get vaccinated as soon as possible, she is open to that idea,” he added.

Roque lamented that the vaccination against the virus was being politicized, noting how some personalities from the political opposition and some critics see China’s donation of Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines as a possible quid pro quo for the Duterte administration’s turning a blind eye on Chinese’s incursions at the South China Sea.

He noted that the opposition previously criticized the Chinese-made vaccines, saying these are inferior.

Roque challenged Robredo to instead accept that all of the vaccines against COVID-19 available in the country have equal efficacy in terms of preventing severe cases of the virus.

Duterte himself earlier this week noted that many Filipinos are still hesitant to get the vaccines. Roque recommended the creation of another infomercial that would also see Duterte urging the people to take the vaccines.

Robredo, who has hypertension, received on Wednesday her first dose of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in Quezon City. She belongs to priority group A3 or persons with comorbidities.

Duterte, on the other hand, used the vaccine developed by China’s Sinopharm, which has yet to receive an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration but was already approved by the World Health Organization for the COVAX Facility. – Helen Flores