Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is threatening to kick the U.S. military out of the country if vaccine shipments are not made.
"If they fail to deliver a minimum of 20 million vaccines, they better get out – no vaccine, no stay here," Duterte told Cabinet members and their COVID-19 task force during a TV broadcast, Nikkei Asia reported.
The Visiting Forces Agreement has become a leveraging tool to overcome procurement delays of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine from the U.S., per the report.
Working with Pfizer has proven difficult for the U.S., too, as it has sought to keep the Trump administration at arm's length.
"Do not believe in that sh** about America that they can deliver immediately," Duterte told his Cabinet, per the report. "I've been with government – I have dealt with them many times."
Duterte has been critical of "Western counties" for being "all profit, profit, profit," per the report.
Philippines has nearly 470,000 COVID-19 cases and over 9,000 deaths.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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