Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said he will not allow students to return to school in his nation until there is a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte during a late-night press conference in Manila on November 19, 2019. On May 25, he said schools will not reopen until a coronavirus vaccine is available. "Unless I am sure that they are really safe, it's useless to be talking about opening of classes," Duterte said during a Monday evening speech, according to Agence France-Presse. "For me, vaccine first. If the vaccine is already there, then it's OK," the president added. "If no one graduates, then so be it." The Philippines shut down schools in March because of the pandemic. The school year in the Southeast Asian nation typically runs from June through April. But because of the ongoing public health emergency, the date to resume classes for the country's more than 25 million elementary and secondary school students had been pushed back to the end of August. Source
