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The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Thursday, December 31, it will launch an investigation into the inoculation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s close-in security with smuggled COVID-19 vaccines.

AFP maintained that Chief-of-Staff General Gilbert Gapay was neither part nor privy to the circumstances involving the procurement, the source, and how the vaccines were administered.

“General Gilbert Gapay has ordered the conduct of a through investigation on the factual circumstances surrounding this incident,” said AFP Spokesperson Major General Edgard Arevalo.

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Arevalo, however, backed Presidential Security Group Commander Jesus Durante’s earlier statement that the PSG only administered the vaccines to protect the President.

“We stand by the previous statement of PSG Commander BGen Jesus Durante that the President’s close-in security had themselves inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine to greatly reduce the possibility of being the source and carrier of this virus and consequently infect the President, whose good health and well-being are the PSG’s primordial concern,” Arevalo said.

President Rodrigo Duterte revealed in a briefing that some members of the AFP had received a vaccine. It turned out, as Interior Secretary Eduardo Año confirmed, that some cabinet officials and PSG members had been inoculated with the unregistered vaccine.

The news angered the public, as the supposed vaccination plan should have prioritized health workers and other frontliners. Durante, however, claimed that they “inoculated themselves” with the vaccine.

Not even the director general of the country’s Food and Drug Administration was aware of the early inoculation activities of the soldiers and top officials of the Duterte government. The FDA said it will launch a probe into the matter.

The early vaccination violated the FDA Law, which prohibits the “manufacture, importation, exportation, sale, offering for sale, distribution, transfer, non-consumer use, promotion, advertising, or sponsorship of any health product” that is not registered with the FDA. – Rappler.com