No delay in tripartite deals with LGU, private sector: vax czar

MANILA – The national government is not delaying the multi-party agreements (MPAs) with the local government units (LGUs) and the private sector on the procurement of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines, National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Tuesday.

Speaking at President Rodrigo Duterte’s weekly Talk to the People Tuesday night, Galvez said some manufacturers were no longer interested in pushing MPAs with the private sector and LGUs and wanted to transact with only one party for smoother logistical requirements.

“Sabi kasi nila pagka maraming kausap (They said with many negotiations), it will entail an enlargement of their personnel, at saka medyo napakahirap ng logistical (logistics is difficult),” Galvez said, noting that China’s Sinovac and Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute intended to prioritize orders from the national government.

“‘Yung clarification po namin ay hindi po namin hino-hold ‘yung tripartite agreement, hindi po namin dini-delay. Ang ginagawa lang po namin is ‘yung due diligence. Katulad po nang ginagawa ng DOH (We would like to clarify that we are not holding the tripartite agreement, we are not delaying it. We are just doing due diligence like what the Department of Health did),” he added.

Moderna and AstraZeneca companies have stopped accepting new orders for the “first wave” of Covid-19 vaccine procurement through the tripartite agreement, Galvez said.

“They are no longer accepting vaccine orders for the first wave procurement. So they will accept orders for the second wave procurement, ibig sabihin ibang produkto ‘yun (that means a different product),” he added.

The second wave procurement includes “booster shots” and “second generation” vaccines or those upgraded jabs that are effective against emerging coronavirus variants.

American manufacturers Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson “are currently not open for the multi-party arrangement,” Galvez added.

The country’s Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) is evaluating India’s Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech company, as its price is thrice higher than the widely-used vaccine brands.

“Binibili din po ng mga LGU ‘yan. Gusto natin na titingnan natin ‘yung cost-effectiveness kasi masyadong mataas ang kanyang presyo (Some LGUs want to buy this vaccine. We want to make sure its cost-effectiveness because it is too pricey),” Galvez said.

Saying public funds are used for the procurement, Galvez noted that they wanted to protect LGUs from getting flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA).

“Mr. President, gusto nating pangalagaan ‘yung mga ano kasi baka mamaya sila rin ang ma-COA later (Mr. President, we want to protect them as they might later on get flagged by COA),” he added.

Meantime, Galvez said the emergency use authorization (EUA) for Covavax jabs developed by manufacturers Novavax and Serum Institute of India, is not yet approved.

“We are supporting the tripartite agreement but we want that magkaroon lang po tayo ng tinatawag nating there is enough volume for us, at the same time, ‘yung price po na ibibigay po sa atin is talagang ‘yung tinatawag nating very decent price (We are supporting the tripartite agreement but we want to make sure there is enough volume for us, at the same time, the vaccine cost would be given to us in a very decent amount),” he said.

To date, the Philippines has a total of 48,522,890 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, with 41,626,760 doses deployed to some 1,684 vaccination sites nationwide.