Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said his country had been presented with a vaccine against Russian coronavirus, free of charge. He himself is committed to injecting the product into making it safe for citizens.
Duterte said at a televised conference Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had introduced himself to supply the Philippines with a COVID-19 vaccine and expressed his opinion on the Moscow-made product.
“I will tell President Putin that I have great confidence in his studies on the fight opposed to [COVID-19] and I think the vaccine he has produced is intelligent for humanity,” he told viewers.
“Since public vaccination is involved, no one will doubt it, I will be injected in public,” he said in his speech monday. “I’ll be the first to have experience.”
The Gamaleya vaccine is supported by the military and funded through the state-run Russian Direct Investment Fund. The Kremlin has denied that Putin’s reports have already won the vaccine, and spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested it would not be wise to inject the president with unproven treatment.
The Gamaleya vaccine has completed its phase 1 trial involving about 40 members of the Russian army. The effects of phase 1 have still been published, however, the next phase of the trial has already begun.
Duterte warned that the Russian vaccine would be given to the Philippines to be bought, but did not specify his talks with Putin. “They need to supply a vaccine. They didn’t say “pay.” I think it’s President Putin’s help, for free,” he said.
Russian officials plan to approve the vaccine this month and launch a mass vaccination program in October. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are among the online countries to obtain the Gamaleya vaccine.
But some fitness experts have warned that the Russian vaccine may not be safe. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, hinted this week that the governments of Russia and China would possibly take shortcuts in the race for a vaccine.
“I hope the Chinese and the Russians are testing a vaccine before giving it to anyone,” he said in reaction to Russia’s plan to approve his vaccine this month. “The claims that a vaccine is in a position to be distributed before the test are, I think, problematic in the most productive,” he said.
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