DU30 OFFERS P 10M TO ANYONE WHO DISCOVERS VACCINE FOR COVID-19

President Duterte is offering P10 million to any Filipino who discovers and develops a vaccine for the world’s “Public Enemy No. 1,” the dreaded new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The President also pledged a “substantial grant” to the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Up-philippine General Hospital (PGH), his spokesperson, Harry Roque, said in an online press briefing.

“Because this COVID-19 is the Public Enemy No. 1, not only in the Philippines but all over the world, the President announced that he will give a P10-million reward to any Filipino who will discover a vaccine against COVID-19,” said Roque.

He did not say how much Mr. Duterte was willing to pour into UP’S efforts in developing a vaccine for the highly contagious SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes the severe respiratory disease.

The PGH is one of the government’s main referral hospitals for COVID-19 patients.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said the President’s reward offer was a welcome move.

Call for Filipino ingenuity

“But I would prefer getting our scientists together to develop a better rapid test kit and a vaccine, and to be part of a global effort in doing the same,” Recto said.

Sen. Grace Poe said Mr. Duterte’s initiative was “a clear shoutout to Filipino excellence and ingenuity in this time of crisis.”

“More than this, it is a call to the Filipinos’ innate good nature and sense of humanity to create a cure that can be a game changer in the history of medicine to bring hope and normalcy to our daily lives,” she said.

The President’s announcement came a few weeks after he said he would lift the Luzon lockdown if pharmaceutical companies developed and made available to the public the antibodies to fight COVID-19.

Mr. Duterte earlier said it might take a year before scientists could develop an anTI-COVID-19 vaccine.

He said a pharmaceutical giant, which he did not identify, was close to developing antibodies to help the immune system of patients fight the disease.

In other countries, pharmaceutical companies are racing to develop a viable treatment for the virus and are conducting clinical trials for potential cures using off-label medications.

At PGH, doctors are using an experimental therapy for COVID-19 patients in critical condition by using the antibodies found in the blood of recovered patients.

The antibodies are found in the plasma, or the liquid portion of the blood of a recovered patient.