Palace spokesman Harry Roque told the public to trust only the opinions of vaccine experts, and not comedians, following Vice Ganda’s tweet on Jan. 12, Tuesday. | PCOO SCREENSHOT
Malacañang on Monday urged the public to trust only the opinions of vaccine experts, and not comedians, on the country’s mass vaccination program.
In a virtual presser, Palace spokesman Harry Roque fired a tirade at a certain comedian, saying it was wrong to compare vaccine choices with detergent preferences. Roque was seemingly alluding to comedian Vice Ganda.
Vice Ganda on Jan. 12, after Roque said Filipinos should not be picky about Covid-19 vaccines, tweeted: “Sa sabong panlaba nga choosy tayo e sa bakuna pa kaya. Ano to basta may maisaksak lang?! Vaklang twoooaahhh!!!”
Sa sabong panlaba nga choosy tayo e sa bakuna pa kaya. Ano to basta may maisaksak lang?! Vaklang twoooaahhh!!!
— jose marie viceral (@vicegandako) January 12, 2021
Roque said if the public did not trust vaccine experts, they should also not believe remarks of comedians.
“Dahil sa limitadong supply ng mga bakuna, hindi tayo makakapili ng isa o dalawang brand. Alam ninyo po, mali naman na ikukumpara ang bakuna sa sabon na panlaba,” he said.
“Kung hindi naman natin pagtitiwalaan ang mga experts na tatlong batches of experts pa ang magsasabing puwede nating gamitin iyan at magiging basehan para mag-issue ang FDA (Food and Drug Administration ng EUA (emergency use authorization), eh sino ang ating pagkakatiwalaan? Siguro po hindi ang mga komedyante,” he added.
To defend his claim, Roque said the global supply of Covid-19 vaccines was not enough for the Philippines to play favorites.
“Ang katunayan po, wala naman pong supply na ganoon kadami. Nag-aagawan nga po tayo, sa 18 percent na available na supply,” he said.
“Pag-ingatan natin kung sino ang pakikinggan natin… Huwag po tayong maniwala doon sa mga lima-singkong mga eksperto dahil marami po diyan nagpapansin lang,” he added.
The country aims to vaccinate up to 70 million Filipinos this year.
So far, only Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine has been given an EUA in the Philippines. John Ezekiel J. Hirro