Locsin furious over broken promise of Moderna doses for DFA; Roque won't comment

President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman would not have anything to do with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.'s claim that his department and the diplomatic corps missed out on 30,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines he had been promised.

“Hindi ko na po pinakikialaman iyan. Bahala na po kung iyan ay nangyari o hindi, hindi ko na po alam iyan,” Harry Roque Jr. said on Tuesday when asked about the tens of thousands of supposedly missing Moderna doses.

“Sila na po ang tanungin ninyo,” he added.

I was promised 30,000 Moderna for my people and the diplomatic corps. My people who are frontliners. I don’t know where the f**k that went, but words cannot express my embarrassment and anger. No one endangers my people. No one.

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) August 1, 2021

Locsin on Sunday on Twitter said he was promised 30,000 doses of US-made Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for members of the diplomatic corps and other frontliners in the Department of Foreign Affairs.

"I don’t know where the f**k that went, but words cannot express my embarrassment and anger. No one endangers my people. No one," Locsin said.

Locsin first expressed his anger over a missed vaccine opportunity in December 2020 when he said that 10 million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine were supposed to be delivered in January but somebody dropped the ball.

Locsin made the remark on Twitter after a series of tweets supporting the Philippines' purchase of 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Chinese firm Sinovac.

"That said my thanks just the same to US Sec of State Mike Pompeo we—Babe Romualdez and I—got 10 million doses of Pfizer financed by World Bank and ADB to be shipped thru FEDEX to Clark in January," Locsin said.

"But somebody dropped the ball. I have steel ball bearings. I just need a slingshot," he added.

Based on the evaluation of the Philippine Food and Drug Administration, Moderna’s efficacy rate is 94% and is administered in two doses around  a month apart. —Llanesca T. Panti/NB, GMA News