It’s “shocking beyond belief and must be condemned for what it is, a selfish act that can neither be justified rationally nor morally,” he says
(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday (Philippine time) assailed talk of COVID-19 booster shots in rich countries even as poor countries “wait for trickles” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The now talk of booster shots while developing countries consider half doses just to get by — this is shocking beyond belief and must be condemned for what it is, a selfish act that can neither be justified rationally nor morally,” President Duterte said in his speech before the High-Level General Debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) through a pre-recorded video statement from Malacañang.
He said rich countries “hoard life-saving vaccines..”
“Mr. President the picture is bleak. It is a manmade drought of vaccines ravaging the poor countries,” President Duterte said.
He emphasized that “only inclusive multilateralism can deliver the global public goods we need.”
He said for the Philippines, in particular, “we understand we need to expand our notion of us beyond the nation so we can work together to secure our common future.”
“The plain fact is this pandemic will not end unless the virus is defeated everywhere,” he said, as he urged “our privileged partners” to fully support the COVAX facility, the global initiative providing COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries.
The Philippines, he said, has given a “modest contribution” to the global COVID-19 fight of $1 million.
“We need this to save more lives, break the cycle of variants, and help ensure global economic recovery,” he said.
“We cannot in all conscience allow this (injustice) to happen. An unjust order is inherently volatile. We have to reverse course,” he added.
The Philippines COVID-19 vaccination drive is ongoing.
As of September 20, 18,560,409 Filipinos have been fully vaccinated.