MANILA – The Philippines has finally kicked off its Covid-19 vaccine rollout with much-publicized donations from China but rising controversies around the rollout will prevent Beijing from declaring a “vaccine diplomacy” win.
China recently delivered 600,000 doses of the vaccine developed by the Beijing-based company Sinovac Biotech and frontliners across the country are set to be among the primary beneficiaries. The drive kicks off as the Philippines grapples with one of the region’s worst outbreaks and steepest economic recessions caused by extended lockdowns.
Top Philippine officials, including the former military chief and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr, were also among those who received the first batch of Chinese-made vaccines in a bid to reassure the public about their safety and effectiveness.
They were joined by leading public health experts, including Philippine General Hospital (PGH) director Dr Gerardo “Gap” Legaspi, Food and Drug Administration director-general Eric Domingo and director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Dr Edsel Salvana.
But there is still deep skepticism about the safety and efficacy of the Chinese-made vaccines, not to mention allegations of massive corruption and overpricing that have intensified public opposition against the jabs.
It hasn’t helped that no less than the country’s Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, as well as Beijing-friendly President Rodrigo Duterte, have refused to take the Chinese vaccine, citing among other things age considerations.
For months, the Duterte administration had come under fire for its failure to obtain vaccines. Last year, the president passed on the opportunity to acquire millions of vaccines from Western pharmaceutical companies, placing his faith instead in vaccine donations from strategic patrons in China and Russia.
“I made a plea to Chinese President Xi Jinping that if they have the vaccine, can they allow us to be one of the first? Or if it is needed, if we have to buy it, that we will be granted credit so that we will normalize as fast as possible,” claimed Duterte in a national address mid-2020, just as he repeatedly spurned Western pharmaceutical companies’ offers.
“If you can endure until December … China is first [in the vaccine race] … That’s why I salute the Chinese,” he added. “Let’s just wait for a vaccine. Let’s wait till December if we can just be patient … We are not going back to a ‘new normal’. It’s going to be normal again,” Duterte insisted.
Beijing responded in kind, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stating: “We are willing to give priority to the vaccine request made by China’s friendly neighbor the Philippines.”
So enthusiastic was Duterte with Chinese vaccines that his presidential security detail reportedly “smuggled” in limited doses by September last year, months before full approval was given by both Chinese and Filipino regulatory authorities.
Much to Duterte’s embarrassment, however, it was Indonesia rather than the Philippines that received millions of Chinese vaccines. In fact, sub-Saharan African nations from Zimbabwe to Senegal managed to receive Chinese vaccine donations ahead of the Southeast Asian country, seen by some Filipinos as a reflection of the low priority the Philippines is accorded in Beijing’s strategic calculus.
Aside from the months-long delays, the greater concern now is the price and safety of Chinese-made vaccines. As early as January, there was widespread public outrage over the alleged overpricing of Chinese vaccines, reportedly amounting to as much as 16.8 billion pesos (US$350 million).
In response, the Philippine Senate launched a days-long special inquiry, which revealed major anomalies in initial government contracts with Chinese vaccine companies.
In a privilege speech following the inquiry, leading Senator Panfilo Lacson warned of massive corruption in the absence of public scrutiny of vaccine procurement.
