THE government’s negotiations for securing doses of the Covid-19 pandemic vaccine has hit a slight delay.
The National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) made the admission in a statement on Sunday, adding it now considers extending its negotiations with the manufacturers and other countries for its vaccine acquisition to next month.
“We are eyeing to strike a deal with vaccine manufacturers by the end of this year or early January 2021,” NTF said.
Based on the government Vaccination Road Map, the said bilateral and multilateral talks should have been concluded before the end of December.
Nevertheless, NTF said it was able to make up for the delays and is still confident the government will be able to get its first shipment of the vaccine by March 2021 and start its inoculation program for Covid-19.
On Sunday, Sen. Panfilo Lacson prodded the Duterte government to frontload early procurement Covid vaccines from the US, airing hopes the Santa Claus in Malacañang will act fast to grant his “Christmas wish.”
“No more incompetence,” Lacson stressed in an interview with DWIZ over the weekend. “There should be no room for incompetence and ineptitude, especially on the part of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, after the events earlier this week,” a reference to the intra-Cabinet exchange last week, where Duque was seen as the one who “dropped the ball” in crucial negotiations with vaccine manufacturer Pfizer, thus relegating the Philippines further down the line of nations making pre-orders.
Food program
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said they are anticipating vaccination drive will allow the government to resume its intensified food program initiatives.
Based from the latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS), 16.7 percent of Filipinos suffered involuntary hunger.
“The administration’s programs on food security will hopefully bring hunger figures down to pre-pandemic levels, which hovered at 8.8 percent.” Nograles said in a statement.
‘Unnecessary noise’
Despite admitting the delays, NTF backed the position of Health Secretary Duque in the controversy surrounding the government’s acquisition of Covid-19 vaccine of Pfizer and BioNTech.
Last week, Duque belied the allegations that he was the one who “dropped the ball” in finalizing the deal to secure 10 million doses of vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech.
NTF described the allegation as “unfounded and unnecessary noise that may derail” the government from securing safe and effective vaccines, even though the allegedly slow action on the vaccines was revealed by a Cabinet secretary, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr., who had earlier secured the help of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in helping the Philippines get a substantial volume of preorders as countries scrambled to make reservations. Locsin’s revelation was affirmed by Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez.
The NTF reiterated “no ‘bus’ was missed or no ‘ball’ was dropped” on the said government negotiations with Pfizer.
Commercial prices
The NTF also clarified reports on the prices of the Covid-19 vaccines, which it said was not the same as what is being negotiated by the government.
“The negotiated price of a dose of vaccine is mostly at a cost since most companies believed that during this pandemic our moral obligation and global interests is to save lives and humanity,” NTF said.
It issued the statement after drawing criticism for prioritizing Sinovac’s vaccine, which is one of the most expensive Covid-19 vaccines at P3,629.50.
It is said to be more expensive compared to other vaccines of manufacturers such as AstraZeneca (P610); Novavax (P366); Pfizer (P2,379); Gamaleya (P1,220), and the Covax Facility (P854).
‘Christmas wish’
Senator Lacson told DWIZ in an interview at the weekend, “My Christmas wish is simple. I hope we Filipinos survive this pandemic, and we get the needed vaccines soonest.”
Lacson suggested that the Duterte Cabinet, including Anti-Covid chief implementor vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., should help
Secretary Duque “not by defending him in media but by getting his job
done.”
At the same time Lacson acknowledged that “if there was something good that came out of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.’s tweet about someone dropping the ball during the initial efforts to get vaccines, it was that the attention of those concerned had been called.”
The lawmaker, the first to react to Locsin’s tweet, earlier bared it was Duque who “dropped the ball” in initial talks for vaccines by not acting quickly in signing a Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement that would seal the deal. Lacson recalled that Locsin and his US counterpart, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, spoke Friday night for the Philippines to procure Covid vaccines, even if it was just a fraction of the 10 million doses initially discussed.
Several months ago, Locsin had gotten Pompeo to commit to help the Philippines source vaccines from US-based pharmaceutical firms that were frontrunners in the vaccine race. “This time, I expect Secretary Duque to be alert, and I expect the Cabinet members to help him move faster instead of defending him through statements to the media. Tulungan na lang. Huwag tulungan magpaliwanag sa media. Tulungan na lang magtrabaho [Just help each other. Not help to explain to media, but help each other do the job],” the senator said. He noted that Duque had asked Galvez and other Cabinet members to defend him in media, adding Duque was “practically frantic” in doing so.
The senator added: “As for Duque’s claim that he erred on the side of caution in signing the CDA late . . . Caution, my foot. 118 daysto sign a simple CDA, between June and October?”