Locsin hints reported COVID-19 vaccine in Binondo could be fake, just 'dextrose'

Unauthorized entry of supposed COVID-19 vaccines to the country may create "loopholes" that could enable fake drugs to reach the market, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Monday.

“There is a threat if we do this without government-to-government then what will happen is you create loopholes in which fake drugs can come in,” he said in an interview on CNN Philippines.

Locsin said he was told that fake drugs, though not fatal, were found to contain "dextrose."

“But the problem is this: If you take them, dextrose, you just got healthy… but it doesn’t protect you from COVID.”

Locsin gave the warning amid reports that a China-made vaccine on COVID-19 is already available in Manila's Binondo district.

Last week, a businessman admitted to Super Radyo dzBB that he and four of his friends had received the shots in an undisclosed location.

Locsin said he has received a complaint from a Chinese authority regarding the availability of the vaccine, supposedly made by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm.

“I got a complaint from the Chinese. He said what is going on here. I don’t know what your private sector is doing, but they are bringing in this vaccine,” he said.

He added he was told that Binondo -- referred to by many as Manila's "Chinatown" -- "has quite a few" of the vaccine.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Dr. Eric Domingo told GMA News Online that no COVID-19 vaccine has applied yet for emergency use authorization in the country.

“So what's happening now, there is now a rumor that if you go to Chinatown you can get a vaccine, possibly Sinopharm,” Locsin said.

“The thing is, he said, we haven’t delivered anything officially,” he added.

Locsin pointed out that obtaining the COVID-19 vaccines should be made through government-to-government transaction to effectively monitor the immunization of the population.

According to him, those who received the vaccine will be certified by the Department of Health that they are already vaccinated against COVID-19. --KBK, GMA News