MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government is not favoring any pharmaceutical company in the procurement of a vaccine against novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Secretary Vince Dizon, the government’s testing czar and deputy chief implementer of the National Action Plan against COVID-19, said.
During a Senate hearing on the government’s COVID-19 vaccination plan on Monday, Dizon stressed that the government is pursuing the safety and efficacy of a vaccine and is negotiating with all companies that have developed a potential vaccine against the virus.
“Wala po tayong policy na pinapaboran ang isang vaccine o isang bansa. Lahat po ng vaccines na safe and effective ay ipu-pursue ng national government, vaccine czar, at vaccine cluster,” he said.
Dizon made the remark after Senator Richard Gordon said that the Philippines seems to be lagging behind other countries in terms of procuring COVID-19 vaccines.
Gordon also surmised that the Philippines is favoring a Chinese-made vaccine with the hope that its supply could be given for free.
“Hindi kaya pinagbibigyan natin yung isang bansa diyan na gustong magbili sa atin pero medyo nakaantala yun sa atin dahil umaasa tayo na makakakuha tayo ng libre,” he said.
“Mayroong mga nagsulat na sinasabi eh may preference raw ang administrasyon sa Chinese medicine… I hope that’s not the reason bakit tayo medyo nahuli as you said,” he added.
Dizon assured that that is not the case and that the government is currently working on securing supply deals with other vaccine manufacturers.
Negotiations with pharmaceutical companies are also on final stages, he added.
Malacañang earlier said the government has already secured 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from China’s Sinovac. An initial batch of 50,000 doses of this vaccine will be delivered in the country by next month.
Apart from China’s Sinovac, the government said it is also eyeing to roll out in February the distribution of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine via the COVAX facility.
The COVAX facility is a platform that seeks to ensure fast and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries. – RRD (with details from Correspondent Harlene Delgado)
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