In September and October, members of the security details of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte received Covid-19 vaccines. But no photos have been approved for use in the country – then or now.
MPs are trying to figure out how vaccine smuggling was introduced.
The scandal came after Mr Duterte said last month that several members of a military unit in charge of his personal protection had been unknowingly vaccinated. Brig. General Jesus Durante III, the unit’s commander, later said “a handful” of guards were shot in September and October to protect the president from exposure to the virus.
Mr Durante said the president found out only after the two necessary gunshots had been fired and that the unit acted without the help or approval of any other authority.
“We vaccinated ourselves,” he said in a televised interview. “It’s so easy.”