MANILA — The priority recipients for the COVID-19 vaccine of China's Sinovac Biotech will exclude President Rodrigo Duterte due to his age, Malacañang said on Monday.

The Philippine drug regulator earlier in the day allowed the emergency use of Sinovac shots, which it said were not recommended for healthcare workers and senior citizens, the top priority groups for the government's vaccination program.

"Obviously po, dahil sinabi po ng EUA na inissue ng FDA na hindi muna natin gagamitin sa senior, hindi po mapapasama ang Presidente sa mauuna," said Palace spokesman Harry Roque.

(Obviously, because the EUA issued by FDA said it should not be used for senior citizens, our President will not be among the first to get it.)

The 75-year-old Duterte earlier said he wanted to take COVID-19 jabs developed by China or Russia. He would be inoculated in public, Roque had said, without identifying which brand the President would take.

The Philippines might get its first 600,000 Sinovac doses this week.

FDA Director General Eric Domingo said the vaccine's efficacy rate stood at 65.3 percent for those aged 18 to 59, based on trials in Indonesia, and up to 91.2 percent based on trials conducted in Turkey.

It has a lower efficacy rate of 50.4 percent when used on health care workers exposed to COVID-19, he added.

Sinovac shots should only be administered to healthy individuals aged 18 to 59 years old.

Sinovac's efficacy rate "is very much accepted not just in the Philippines, but the WHO (World Health Organization) itself," noted Roque.

"It is not a low-quality vaccine, it is expected under standards arrived at by the WHO itself," he said.