Senate President Vicente Sotto III
(Photo by Senate PRIB)
“I’m disturbed by a statement coming from the FDA, na parang sinisiraan pa ‘yong Sinovac, eh (that they seem to be bad-mouthing Sinovac). Nakakatakot ‘yong ganon pa ‘yong naririnig mo. (It’s scary to hear things like that). We should exercise caution in saying things like that, na hindi pwede sa health workers (that it’s not allowed for health workers),” Sotto said at the resumption of the Senate’s plenary discussion on the proposed “COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act” on February 22.
“Bakit sasabihin mong hindi pwede sa health workers ‘yon (Why would you say that the vaccines cannot be used on health workers)? We should be very cautious with things like that,” he further said.
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa (Senate PRIB)
“Yes, yes, I am willing. As long as the vaccines came from Sec. Galvez, not those vaccines that are secretly acquired if there are any. Because they might be fake, who will I hold accountable if I end up in danger? We should be on the safe side,” Dela Rosa said when asked by radio DWIZ in an interview Saturday.
“If I have any influence over our countrymen, and I can influence them to get vaccinated, then I am willing to do it in public,” he added.
Asked in jest which part of the body would he prefer to be injected with the vaccine, Dela Rosa said: “[Sa] Braso, oy. Gawin mong public ‘yon na sa pwet mo? Sa braso lang (On my arm, of course. What, you want to make public your vaccination in the buttocks? I will be injected on the arm).”
Chief Minister Only Accountable to Provincial Assembly, Not Prime Minister: Murad Ali Shah
File photo
Sindh’s chief minister says he has written to P.M. Khan seeking permission to directly import coronavirus vaccines for his province
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Monday dismissed a widely reported spat with Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi, saying that he was elected by the Sindh Assembly and was answerable only to them, not the prime minister or any federal minister.
“According to the Constitution, I am answerable to the Sindh Provincial Assembly and to no one else, not [even] to the prime minister,” he said while addressing the inauguration of the Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Facility and Dow Institute of Life Sciences at the Ojha campus of Dow University of Health Sciences in Karachi.