Illegal vaccines that are said to be anti-COVID-19 continue to proliferate so the Department of Health (DOH) once again reminded the public of the possible harm to the body of injecting unauthorized vaccines currently available on the black market in the country.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the spread of such illegal vaccines that have not yet been given emergency use authorization (EUA) to be considered safe for human use is disappointing.
“Kung sakaling may nag-aalok po sa kanila, mag-ingat po sila kasi baka nanggaling iyan sa black market at hindi nila masisiguro kung talagang authentic iyang bakuna na iyan,” said Vergeire.
(In case someone offers them, they should be careful because it may come from the black market and they can not be sure if that vaccine is really authentic.)
She said the DOH will also have difficulty monitoring the side effects of the vaccine injected into them if it is not authorized or smuggled into the Philippines.
The DOH is also disappointed with the greed of businessmen who offer vaccines at large costs and exploit the public’s fear of getting COVID-19.
Illegal COVID-19 vaccines rampant in black market
It was reported earlier that about 100,000 Chinese working for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) and even Presidential Security Group (PSG) personnel were vaccinated against COVID-19 even there is no authorized vaccine in the country at the time.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country has reached more than half a million, a year after the first COVID-19 case was recorded in the Philippines.
According to the Department of Health (DOH) this Sunday, the total number of cases reached 525,618 after the confirmation of 2,103 new cases.
But of that number, only 27,318 are considered active cases.
The DOH also reported on Sunday, 11,653 new recoveries so the total number of COVID-19 recoveries is 487,551.
Eighty died of the disease so the death toll rose to 10,749.
It was January 30 last year when the Philippines confirmed the first case of COVID-19. It was a Chinese woman from Wuhan, the city in China where the disease is believed to have originated.