Duterte not qualified to try COVID-19 vaccine, says ex-DOH chief

President Rodrigo Duterte, despite his enthusiasm to get the first shot of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine, will not qualify to participate in the Phase 3 trials, former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral said Friday.

"All clinical trials have what we call inclusion and exclusion criteria and for this particular Phase 3, he is in the exclusion criteria by virtue of his age as well as other risk factors so he will not be admitted into the clinical trial at all," Cabral said in a forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

"Once the clinical trials are over for the general healthy population, there will be smaller trials for people who are elderly, for people who have heart disease, diabetes, etc. and he can qualify for that smaller trial," she added.

Duterte, 75, volunteered to be the first one to try Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.

“Ako pagdating ng bakuna in public, para walang satsat diyan, in public magpa-injection ako. Ako ‘yong unang ma-eksperimentuhan. Okay para sa akin,” he said.

Participating in the clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine is an altruistic deed but it should be voluntary, according to Cabral.

"Nobody can be forced to participate in a clinical trial in democratic countries such as ours. The days of trying things out among prisoners and other people who cannot refuse is over or should be over," she said.

In another online forum on vaccines, Philippine Foundation for Vaccination president Dr. Liza Gonzales said health workers were among those who will be prioritized to join clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines.  -NB, GMA News