MANILA, Philippines鈥擵accination is compulsory for members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who might have no choice but receive vaccines developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech that were expected to arrive soon.
鈥淭o get inoculated or not is not an option for the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, it is a duty,鈥� AFP spokesperson Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said at an online briefing.
Arevalo said mandating men in uniform to be inoculated was necessary because soldiers play key roles as first responders in hospitals, quarantine checkpoints and in transporting medical supplies and stranded people. Soldiers were expected to have a crucial part in vaccine rollout.
鈥淭hey need to be vaccinated so they won鈥檛 be a burden or add to the problem and so the soldiers won鈥檛 complicate the problem,鈥� Arevalo said in Filipino.
Arevalo said AFP personnel could take any vaccine brand but those dealing with COVID-19 patients, like military medical workers, might not have no choice but CoronaVac, the vaccine produced by Sinovac, because there鈥檚 no other option.
鈥淎s a matter of policy, AFP personnel may opt for vaccine brands at their cost,鈥� said Arevalo. 鈥淭hey can choose, but when it鈥檚 time for them to go on duty, like frontliners at checkpoints or rollouts, they can鈥檛 do those duties,鈥� he said.
AFP employees 鈥渄irectly performing duties鈥� related to COVID-19 need to be vaccinated as soon as possible 鈥渨hatever is available, which is Sinovac, for them to be protected in that dangerous setting,鈥� said Arevalo.
In December, however, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that getting inoculated is not mandatory.
鈥淣o one can really be forced to get vaccinated,鈥� said FDA Director General Eric Domingo. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be forced and it can鈥檛 be by force. If we get vaccinated, we should completely understand the benefits or adverse effects, side effects or risks,鈥� he said.
In the United States, service members may opt not to be inoculated because the US FDA has yet to issue a full license for vaccines.
The Department of National Defense (DND) will receive 100,000 doses out of 600,000 doses of CoronaVac being donated by China, which is giving at least 10 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to developing countries. The vaccines are expected to arrive this Sunday (Feb. 28).
The DND said CoronaVac would be given to all employees of its civilian bureaus鈥擮ffice of Civil Defense, Government Arsenal, National Defense College of the Philippines, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office and civilian employees of the AFP.
Arevalo said he was unsure whether the AFP members would benefit from the 600,000 donated Chinese vaccines.
鈥淲hat we know is there would be a study by the task group of our government to know how may could be spared from that number for uniformed personnel which includes members of the AFP,鈥� Arevalo said.
鈥淭he bottomline is it is a duty of military personnel, including civilian human resources, to be vaccinated whether we avail (sic) of the brand that we like or the brand given to us,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we must take the vaccine without delay once the rollout has started,鈥� he added.
Those who would refuse to be inoculated could be charged with insubordination under Articles of War 105, which gives commanding officers disciplinary powers, according to Arevalo.
He also dismissed concerns there would be conflict of interest if the AFP received vaccines from China, which is asserting ownership claims over parts of Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea.
鈥淲e in the armed forces we don鈥檛 consider that conflict of interest,鈥� said Arevalo. 鈥淰accines are needed by any Filipino. For the AFP that鈥檚 a vaccine which was very important to allow us to help capacitate, equip us,鈥� he said.