Presidential candidate Dr. Jose “Joey” Montemayor, who is against mandatory vaccination, claimed that the number of fully vaccinated individuals in the Philippines has not reached 30 million as of early March. This is false.
His statement that COVID-19 vaccines can only “produce artificial immunity for three months,” hence the need for a booster shot, also lacks context.
STATEMENT
In an interview with Politiko TV channel on March 1, Montemayor elaborated on his position on the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program.
He said in part:
“Alam niyo po, wala pang 30 million ang napabakunahan. Inflated ang figures nila … E bakit kung talagang marami — 76 million ang hindi vaccinated. In fact, ang vaccination is only artificial, it can only produce artificial immunity for three months kaya nga may booster e. Kasi kung talagang magbibigay ng herd immunity ‘yan, e ‘di dapat wala nang booster.”
(You know, the [number of] vaccinated people has not reached 30 million. Their figures are inflated … If there is really a lot — 76 million [people] are not vaccinated. In fact, vaccination is only artificial, it can only produce artificial immunity for three months. That’s why there is a booster because if [vaccination] can really provide herd immunity, then there should be no booster anymore.)
Source: Politiko TV Channel, Balitang Sapol With Presidential Candidate Dr. Joey Montemayor, March 1, 2022, watch from 8:46 to 9:11
The episode of Politiko TV’s “Balitang Sapol” with the segment on the presidential aspirant was aired live on its Facebook page, which has 992,932 followers. The video has a potential reach of 1.24 million users, based on social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.
Montemayor is running for president under the Democratic Party of the Philippines. According to his website, he is a cardiologist, a medical technologist, an economist, and a lawyer.
FACT
Data from the Department of Health (DOH) show that more than 63.30 million Filipinos — twice more than Montemayor’s claim — have been fully vaccinated as of March 1.
Read the full story on VERA Files Fact Check.
