Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte praised Russian efforts
to develop a vaccine against the emerging corona virus and
expressed his willingness to participate in his experience, while
he welcomed a Russian offer to supply the vaccine to Manila,
saying that he expected it to be free of charge.
Russia expects to obtain regulatory approval for a possible
vaccine for the Covid-19 disease caused by infection with the
virus this month, and has expressed its willingness to supply
the Philippines with it or cooperate with a local company to
produce it in large quantities.
The Philippines is one of the countries with the largest
numbers of HIV infections in Asia, as the number of cases rose
to 136,638 yesterday, Monday, after it witnessed a record
daily increase of 6,958 infections.
"I will inform President (Vladimir) Putin that I have a lot of
confidence in your studies to combat Covid and I think that
the vaccine that you have produced is really good for
humanity," Duterte said in a televised speech late last night.
The frantic global race to provide an anti-virus vaccine has
raised concerns that considerations of speed and national
prestige will come at the expense of safety.
To allay people's fears, Duterte offered to be a test rat when
the new vaccine arrives, saying, "I can be the first to give it a
try."
His office said today, Tuesday, that the Philippines is ready to
work with Russia on vaccine trials, supplies and production.
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