The Philippines has not yet approved the emergency use of China’s Sinopharm pneumonia vaccine, which was recently publicly administered by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and criticized by public opinion as illegal. After Duterte publicly apologized, he decided to return the Chinese vaccine, but the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines deliberately confused the Sinopharm vaccine with the Kexing vaccine, claiming to the media that the return of the Chinese vaccine was a “falsehood”.
On May 9, local time, CCP Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian claimed in an interview with the special program “Diplomacy of the Great Powers” on China Radio and Television of the CCP’s mouthpiece, that the first batch of Chinese vaccines for the Philippines had arrived in Manila as early as the end of February this year, and that the Philippines had so far received or purchased 5 million doses of Chinese vaccines, accounting for 90 percent of the vaccines received by the Philippines.
Huang went on to claim that reports that Duterte was returning Chinese vaccines were “pure fiction and falsehoods. He insisted, “In fact, not only did the Philippine side not return the Chinese vaccines, but it appreciated them and wanted to purchase more.”
After the Chinese embassy in the Philippines released the content of the interview on the 9th, some Taiwanese media then pointed out that Huang Xilian, in his interview with the Chinese official media, kept bragging about how the “Chinese vaccine” was recognized by the Filipino people and deliberately confused the Kexing vaccine with the Chinese vaccine, playing word games and refusing to acknowledge the return of the Chinese vaccine by the Philippines. The matter.
In fact, according to the Philippine News Agency, the official media of the Philippines, the Chinese vaccine approved by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use is the Kexing vaccine, while the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine has not been officially authorized for use in the Philippines.
According to public information, polls conducted in the Philippines between February and March of this year showed that 6 out of 10 Filipinos were reluctant to receive the vaccine because they feared it was unsafe. The Philippines, with more than 1 million confirmed cases of CCP pneumonia and nearly 18,000 deaths, is the worst epidemic in Southeast Asia after Indonesia.
The BBC reported on May 6 that Duterte, who was criticized by domestic public opinion for his televised vaccination of the unapproved China National Pharmaceutical Group vaccine, has publicly apologized for the incident. He explained that he received the Sinopharm vaccine on the advice of his doctor, so he was given discretion and did not break the law. However, he urged the public not to follow his example and decided to have the Chinese Communist Embassy take back the 1,000 doses of the state medicine vaccine originally donated to the Philippines.
“It’s dangerous because this (vaccine) has not been studied and it may not be good for the body.” Duterte said, “Let’s withdraw them (vaccines) so there is no more problem.”
The Philippine News Agency also reported on Duterte’s demand for the return of the national vaccine. A government spokesman said Duterte has resolved to return the national vaccine unless it has been approved for emergency use, the newspaper said.
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