The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday urged San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora to give information on his inoculation with “bootlegged” doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine.
“We hope he can point us to the supplier. I wrote to Congressman Zamora asking for information that will help us in our investigation,” FDA Director General Eric Domingo said in an interview with Super Radyo dzBB.
Zamora had admitted he got two doses of the Sinopharm vaccine in December last year and recently received another two shots of the Pfizer vaccine as “boosters”, even before an emergency use authorization (EUA) was granted by the Philippine government.
The FDA only granted an EUA to Sinopharm vaccine in June this year.
“It’s possible these are fake, counterfeit or substandard, or not handled properly,” Domingo said.
“If the vaccines were only passed around then administered to you, there’s a really big chance that by the time the vaccine gets to you, it’s no longer effective even if it isn’t fake,” he said.
Domingo has warned that importers and distributors of unauthorized vaccines, as well as health workers who administer them, are criminally liable.
The Department of Health has also urged the public not to mix and match COVID-19 vaccines or get a booster shot yet, stressing the need for more data.
Meanwhile, Domingo said the Presidential Security Group still has not responded to the FDA’s requests for information on their unauthorized vaccination with Sinopharm jabs late last year.
