Leachon to Palace: Address vaccine concerns instead of resorting to personal attacks

(Philstar.com) - December 15, 2020 - 1:22pm MANILA, Philippines — A former adviser to the National Task Force Against COVID-19 on Tuesday said the government should allay concerns over its seeming preference for Chinese vaccines instead of attacking the character of its critics. Dr. Tony Leachon, a health reform advocate, said this after he once again became the subject of Malacañang's ire for questioning the government's prioritization of COVID-19 vaccines which he said lacked safety and efficacy data — naming Chinese company Sinovac Biotech in specific. "I was just asking a fair scientific question in order to gain the confidence of the people in terms of their acceptance of vaccination," Leachon told ANC's Matters of Fact on Tuesday, adding that it is his role as a health advocate to "tell the truth regarding certain medical aspects of the [COVID-19] response." During a virtual briefing on Monday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly cussed out Leachon during pre-recorded televised meetings and accused him of angling for a position in his government. According to Roque, such remarks were previously edited out. "Next time the president curses at you, I will insist, it will be shown to the people," Roque threatened Leachon partially in Filipino. Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., also NTF chief implementer, echoed Roque's criticism, adding that Leachon was hard to work with. "If ever those statements by Secretary Harry Roque [are] true, then we just have to accept it because the questions basically, would really, beg some explanation in terms of the efficacy and safety data considering that the Chinese vaccine [has] not received any Emergency Use Authorization or not even [Food and Drug Administration] approval to warrant [the] ordering of that particular volume of stock that will start in March," Leachon said in response on Tuesday. "So this is the question we need to understand rather than using ad hominem attacks that would be unfair to my personality," he added. Leachon also vehemently denied that he was seeking a government post. "I'm not going to be a public official in the future. I'm doing this without expecting anything in return." 'Unusual speed' of acquisition of Sinovac vaccine Galvez on Monday said the government aims to finalize negotiations with Sinovac Biotech this week to acquire 25 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine for delivery by March. INTERAKSYON: Philippines targets deal for 25 million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine Leachon flagged the "unusual speed" of acquisition for this particular vaccine, given that pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca have already published the results of their Phase 3 trials in medical journals while Sinovac has not. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was green lighted for emergency use by the United Kingdom early in December, and has subsequently been approved in several other countries including the US, while Moderna's vaccine is expected to receive emergency use authorization from the US FDA as early as this week. "We don't have yet the regulatory documents regarding Sinovac, and if we're going to order huge volume of stocks, then it should be facilitated approval even by an international regulatory agency and extremely expedited approval in the Philippines by January to get the needed stocks by March," he said. — Bella Perez-Rubio

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more