PH to go for less expensive COVID-19 vaccine once available

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines would opt to buy a less expensive vaccine for COVID-19 regardless of which country it came from, President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday.

“As I said, it’s there. I think it’s Moderna. It’s a US company, I think they are ready by September. I told them to hurry up. Sinovac, China is also ready,” Duterte said in a taped address, speaking partly in Filipino.

“Whoever [produces it], it’s all the same. Whoever makes it first and gives it to use cheap, that’s where we’ll go. They know that we don’t have enough money. If it’s too expensive, we will go for the less expensive ones,” he added.

Previously, Duterte said Russia had vowed to provide the Philippines with a vaccine against COVID-19.

He even volunteered to be first to try Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine to show that it would be safe for humans.

Apart from Russia, China has also vowed to prioritize the Philippines once it develops a vaccine for the coronavirus.

[atm]