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The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, General Gilbert Gapay, ordered a comprehensive investigation into the inoculation of some members of the Presidential Security Group with an unauthorized COVID-19 vaccine.
“General Gilbert Gapay ordered a thorough investigation into the factual circumstances surrounding this incident,” AFP spokesman Major General Edgard Arévalo said in a press release on Thursday.
Arevalo said that the AFP supported the defense of the PSG regarding the vaccination of some of its members, but that it was unaware of the circumstances that involved obtaining the vaccine.
“We maintain our previous statement that the AFP Chief of Staff did not participate or have knowledge of the circumstances that involved the acquisition of these vaccines, their source and the administration of them to the PSG policemen,” said Arevalo.
On Saturday, President Rodrigo Duterte revealed that some members of the military had already received a COVID-19 vaccine from the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm.
The PSG commander, Brigadier General Jesús Durante, has said that his unit acquired the COVID-19 vaccine for free, but refused to reveal its origin.
During has also defended the inoculation, saying that Duterte’s security details “should ensure that they themselves are not a threat to the president’s health and safety.”
“We support the previous PSG statement … that the president’s security had been inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine to greatly reduce the possibility of being the source and the carrier of this virus,” said Arevalo.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque has said the president did not authorize the vaccination.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that COVID-19 vaccines administered to some members of the PSG were smuggled.
The Secretary of Justice, Menardo Guevarra, also ordered the National Investigation Office (NBI) to investigate the unauthorized inoculations against COVID-19 using unregistered vaccines. —AOL / NB, GMA News
