{"id":272993,"date":"2020-10-26T06:05:08","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T10:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=272993"},"modified":"2020-10-26T06:06:29","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T10:06:29","slug":"palace-open-to-rectos-proposal-to-appoint-vaccine-czar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/10\/26\/palace-open-to-rectos-proposal-to-appoint-vaccine-czar\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace open to Recto\u2019s proposal to appoint vaccine czar"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Recto\u2019s suggestion was \u201cvery well taken\u201d but recalled that the President had already appointed a vaccine czar around two months ago. (PCOO file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Monday welcomed the suggestion of Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto for President Rodrigo Duterte to appoint a “vaccine czar” to ensure that the Philippines has access to a potential coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) once it is available.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Recto\u2019s suggestion was \u201cvery well taken\u201d but recalled that the President had already appointed a vaccine czar around two months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe suggestion is very well taken. In fact, two months ago I recall\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0si Presidente may itinalagang<\/em>\u00a0vaccine czar (the President already designated a vaccine czar),\u201d he said in a Palace press briefing.<\/p>\n

Roque, however, explained that the person named vaccine czar was \u201chesitant\u201d about publicizing the appointment and would rather wait for the President to make the announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cYung natalagang<\/em>\u00a0vaccine czar is hesitant when I asked him if I could remind the public that he has been designated vaccine czar\u00a0kasi baka hindi na raw po naalala ni Presidente<\/em>\u00a0(The person designated as vaccine czar is hesitant when I asked him if I could remind the public that he has been designated because the President might not have remembered it) so he would like to wait for the President to make the announcement anew,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He agreed with Recto that a vaccine czar is needed to begin setting up a \u201csupply-to-syringe cold chain\u201d as the vaccines have to be moved and stored in freezing temperatures in a tropical country.<\/p>\n

\u201cMalinaw po \u2018yan yung<\/em>\u00a0(It\u2019s clear that we need a ) vaccine czar as Sen. Recto said is to make sure\u00a0na meron tayong<\/em>\u00a0(that we have the) capability to import and distribute including provision for cold storage,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Duterte administration earlier named various czars to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Bases Conversion and Development Authority chief Vince Dizon was appointed testing czar, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar as isolation czar, Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong as contact tracing czar and Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega as treatment czar.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Roque cited the proposal of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination Director Dr. Lulu Bravo to establish a National Immunization Technical Advisory Group to make decisions on the regulatory approval on the use of Covid-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as yung<\/em>\u00a0(the) regulatory approval\u00a0naman<\/em>\u00a0for the use of the vaccine, si Dr. Lulu Bravo just recommended that it be left to a body\u00a0para hindi lang iisang tao yung<\/em>\u00a0nagdedesisyon<\/em>\u00a0(so that it won\u2019t be one person making the decision),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As of Oct. 20, Bravo said that there are 156 potential Covid-19 vaccines in the pre-clinical trial stage which means they have not yet been tested on humans.<\/p>\n

She said phase 3 or the last stage of clinical trials last for six months to one year. There are currently 10 potential vaccines now on phase 3 trials.<\/p>\n

Six potential vaccines have acquired emergency or limited-use approval by national authorities, she added.<\/p>\n

Last Oct. 15, Roque assured that potential vaccines would be affordable to many Filipinos even if the national government could not provide free immunization to all Filipinos.<\/p>\n

An estimated PHP2 billion will be spent to inoculate the priority population which includes the poorest of the poor, police, military, and front-liners, he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Monday welcomed the suggestion of Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto for President Rodrigo Duterte to appoint …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":271071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272994,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272993\/revisions\/272994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}