FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a “Vaccine COVID-19” sticker and a medical syringe in this illustration taken April 10, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential Security Group (PSG) commander Col. Jesus Durante III on Wednesday bared that members of President Rodrigo Duterte’s security detail administered the COVID-19 vaccine among themselves, without the help of a medical professional.
“We vaccinated ourselves. It’s so easy,” Durante admitted in an interview on ANC’s “Headstart.”
Asked if Durante himself inoculated the vaccine to the PSG officials, he said: “As I’ve said, we vaccinated ourselves. It is within our command.”
“We’ve done our research. For now, we’ve found the appropriate vaccine for us, which I could say is a traditional vaccine, so we took the risk,” he said.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año earlier confirmed that a Cabinet member and a number of PSG members have received the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, said that no vaccine has been approved yet for official use, adding that it is illegal to import, distribute and for a doctor or medical practitioner to administer unregistered drugs in the country.