Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to jail citizens who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as his country is battling one of the worst outbreaks in Asia.
“You choose: either you get vaccinated or I put you in jail,” the Filipino leader said in a televised address after reports of low turnout at several vaccination sites in the capital, Manila.
Duterte explained his statements by the crisis situation with the development of coronavirus in the Philippines, where over 1.3 million cases of COVID-19 and 23 thousand deaths have been registered.
“Don't get me wrong, there is a crisis in this country. I'm just annoyed that Filipinos don't listen to the government … If you don't want to get vaccinated, I will detain you and give you the vaccine, ”the president said.
Otherwise, the head of the Philippines recommended that residents leave the country. “If you don’t get vaccinated, leave the Philippines,” he said, continuing the non-vaccinated ones to go to India or “somewhere – to America”.
“But while you are here and are a potential carrier of the virus, get yourself vaccinated,” he added, also threatening to contact the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Local Government for compiling lists of citizens who refused vaccination.
Citizens who do not want to be vaccinated, Duterte called “stupid.” “They can travel from one place to another, carry the virus and infect others,” he said.
Duterte's statements contradict those of Philippine Ministry of Health officials, who previously said that while people are being urged to be vaccinated against Covid-19, vaccination is voluntary.
Earlier, the head of the Philippines said that he was looking for a suitable law that would allow quarantine violators to be imprisoned.
