(Eagle News)– No other member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines has been vaccinated against COVID-19.
AFP spokesperson Major General Edgard Arevalo said in a television interview on Tuesday that “not even the Chief of Staff (General Gilbert Gapay), not even me, or not even high ranking officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”
According to Arevalo, only select members of the Presidential Security Group have been given the vaccine.
“As the unit primarily tasked to protect and secure the highest official of the land, the PSG will have to ensure that the President is safe from all threats—including COVID-19..That security posture should necessarily include protecting the Commander-in-Chief from contracting the deadly virus from those he is constantly exposed to like the members of his security detail,” Arevalo earlier said.
The Palace has said no funds from the government were spent for the vaccination.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the vaccines were probably donated, adding that the vaccination was voluntary.
It was President Rodrigo Duterte who disclosed that some soldiers had been vaccinated against COVID-19.
