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MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is still unable to make reservations for COVID-19 vaccines, not because it lacks funds but because other countries have already made their own reservations, President Rodrigo Duterte said in a prerecorded speech broadcast Tuesday night.
According to Duterte, the United States and some countries in Europe, where pharmaceutical companies are based, have already made an advance on vaccines to reserve for their own citizens.
So financing is not a problem, he said, and Finance Secretary Carlos Domínguez assured him that the government could get another loan for $ 300 million.
“As long as someone lends us money, that’s fine,” he said, speaking in part in Filipino. “How long? In due time. It’s not that we don’t want to buy. We don’t have anything to buy yet.”
“So you can expect that in the few months until next year, all of those vaccines produced will be used by the Americans. The same is true of European countries that have successfully developed a vaccine, “he added.
And it’s the same situation with China, which Duterte said last April would give priority to the Philippines in supplying vaccines.
“Again, we must bear in mind that they have a population to worry about. [about], and that population is not easy, “said the president.
China would take care of its own citizens first before giving the vaccines to others, he added.
Meanwhile, Duterte remained optimistic that the government could afford to shoulder the vaccination of the country’s poorest.
Filipinos with more money, he said, could “buy the drugs themselves.”
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