Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is making threats: Get vaccinated or else.
And the else isn't pretty. "You choose, vaccine or I will have you jailed," he said on television yesterday, threatening those who haven't yet received a Covid-19 shot. And even worse than jail, he also made this monstrous threat: "You get vaccinated, otherwise I will order all the village heads to have a tally of the people who refuse to be vaccinated. Because if not, I will inject them with Ivermectin which is intended for pigs."
Frustrated by a country that has fully vaccinated only 2.1 million out of its target of 70 million people, Dutarte said, "I'm just exasperated by Filipinos not heeding the government." But his remarks are contradictory to what the country's health officials have been saying – that it's important people get vaccinated, but it's voluntary.
Dutarte then paints an ugly picture of what jail life would look like. "I'm telling you, those police jail cells are filthy and foul-smelling, police are lazy in cleaning. That is where you'll be."