The United States has expressed willingness to share to the Philippines a vaccine on COVID-19 that it is developing once it is finished and available for distribution.
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper made this assurance in a conference call with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Independence Day.
“Secretary Esper mentioned that developments on vaccines and therapeutics in the US are making very good progress, and expressed their willingness to share them with US allies and partners once available,” said Department of National Defense spokesperson Arsenio Andolong yesterday.
Lorenzana took the opportunity to share the Philippines’ response to COVID-19 pandemic as he thanked the US government for its medical assistance and donations.
The conference call between the top Defense officials was bared after Malacañang announced that President Duterte had a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the eve of Independence Day.
According to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, Xi told Duterte that the Philippines will get priority access to a vaccine that it is also developing to combat COVID-19 which originated in Wuhan in Hubei province, China.
Aside from the COVID-19 response, Esper and Lorenzana also talked about the decision of Duterte to suspend the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement. (Martin Sadongdong)
