Monday, December 28, 2020

DILG chief confirms local vaccinations. Inquirer Newsletter. December 29, 2020

RUNAWAY WINNER “Fan Girl” sizzles with most of the awards in Sunday night’s virtual edition of the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival, including best actor for Paulo Avelino, best actress for costar Charlie Dizon, best director for Antoinette Jadaone (inset), and best picture. —SCREENGRAB

Regions

Toledo folk living near mine site evacuated

CEBU CITY—At least 400 families living near a landslide-hit mine site in Toledo City will spend New Year’s Day inside evacuation centers after the local government started transferring them to safer ground on Sunday. -STORY BY Ador Vincent Mayol

Lifestyle Wellness

Filipino-led company presents easier way to detect ovarian cancer

What if a simple blood extraction can detect with up to 94-percent accuracy if you have early-stage ovarian cancer? What if the same test enables clinicians to distinguish benign from malignant masses in women presenting with pelvic masses? -STORY BY Anne A. Jambora

Newsletter / Join us

Has this been forwarded by a friend? Subscribe now to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Newsletters and get your latest news and important updates straight to your device.

Get here

Banner story

DILG chief confirms local vaccinations

By Leila B. Salaverria

It is not unlawful to be inoculated with an unauthorized COVID-19 vaccine, Malacañang said on Monday after the home affairs secretary and the Army chief confirmed that Cabinet members and security forces have received a jab for the new coronavirus that had yet to be authorized for use in the Philippines.What is illegal is distributing the shot commercially without regulatory approval, the Palace said.

Word had been going around for weeks that government officials, lawmakers and soldiers had been vaccinated for COVID-19, but the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had been denying it, insisting that the government had not approved any vaccine for the new coronavirus disease.

But President Duterte disclosed during a meeting with health experts on Saturday that many Filipinos, including troops from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, had been given the vaccine developed by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm.

‘Not yet policy’

“Almost all soldiers have been vaccinated. I have to be frank, I have to tell the truth. Many people have been vaccinated, and I have not heard of vaccination for a select few. But not all soldiers. It’s because it’s not yet policy,” Mr. Duterte said.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said he had no information about Mr. Duterte’s claim, while Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said it was up to the President to name his sources. The FDA stood firm on its claim that it had not cleared any candidate COVID-19 vaccine. —WITH REPORTS FROM JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE, KATRINA HALLARE, DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN, BEN O. DE VERA, KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING AND NESTOR CORRALES INQ

Editorial

Settling for the mediocre

What’s with the Duterte administration’s preference for the vaccine produced by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd., which, compared to other vaccines, is inferior at this point and yet more expensive? President Duterte appears to be undaunted in favoring the Chinese vaccines; he has instructed Food and Drug Administration director general Rolando Domingo to fast-track the approval of vaccines from China, including Sinovac and Sinopharm (which Mr. Duterte said he also preferred as it has reportedly been given to a million Chinese soldiers.