{"id":277914,"date":"2020-12-07T05:42:31","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T10:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=277914"},"modified":"2020-12-07T05:42:31","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T10:42:31","slug":"dutertes-hesitation-wont-delay-vaccine-supply-for-ph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/12\/07\/dutertes-hesitation-wont-delay-vaccine-supply-for-ph\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte\u2019s \u2018hesitation\u2019 won\u2019t delay vaccine supply for PH"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the acquisition of vaccines will not depend on a country\u2019s capacity to pay in advance, but on the issuance of an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). (PCOO file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s initial hesitation to pay a reservation fee to suppliers won\u2019t delay the Philippines\u2019 acquisition of supply of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines, Malaca\u00f1ang said Monday.<\/p>\n

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the acquisition of vaccines will not depend on a country\u2019s capacity to pay in advance, but on the issuance of an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it would have affected the timeline because\u00a0unang-una,<\/em>\u00a0as I said,\u00a0ngayon lang po nagkakaroon ng<\/em>\u00a0(first, as I said, it\u2019s only now that there has been an) Emergency Use Authorization worldwide. As far as I know, there have only been two countries that have given EUAs and that is China and the United Kingdom. So\u00a0hindi po tayo nahuhuli<\/em>\u00a0(So we\u2019re not lagging behind),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque pointed out that making an advance payment will not necessarily mean that the Philippines will lag behind compared to other countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe advance payment\u00a0po<\/em>, I don\u2019t think will really affect when we will actually get it\u00a0kasi lahat naman po tayo<\/em>\u00a0(because we are all) subject first to scientific scrutiny. So what determines\u00a0kung kailan tayo magkakaroon<\/em>\u00a0(when we will get the vaccine) is scientific scrutiny,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also said Duterte never insisted that paying reservation fees for a vaccine is a violation of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an exception under the RA 9184 that procurement pursuant to international agreements shall not be covered; and number two, there is expressed authorization vested on the President under Bayanihan 1 and 2 to resort to extraordinary procurement in relation to Covid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque said Duterte eventually agreed to make advance payments after seeing initiatives of the private sector to purchase vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I think\u00a0ang nangyari<\/em>\u00a0(what happened) was, the President was first told about the private sector initiative. And when the President was told, he was appreciative and said, let\u2019s do everything that we can now to get the vaccines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 1, Duterte signed Executive Order 121 granting authority to the FDA director general to issue a EUA for Covid-19 drugs and vaccines subject to several conditions.<\/p>\n

The EUA is expected to speed up the processing time for approval of potential vaccines from six months to 21 to 28 days.<\/p>\n

Duterte approved the recommendation to make advance payments to suppliers of Covid-19 vaccines last Nov. 19.<\/p>\n

First in line<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roque, meanwhile, said Duterte is willing to be vaccinated under EUA upon receiving permission from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Spokesperson, I think the President is the best communication tool. So\u00a0kung papayagan na po ng<\/em>\u00a0FDA, I think\u00a0po mangunguna ang Presidente at nag<\/em>-volunteer\u00a0naman po siya,<\/em>\u00a0in fact,\u00a0gustung-gusto na niya<\/em>\u00a0(So if the FDA will allow him, I think the President will be the first to volunteer, in fact, he really wants to be the first),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte has previously expressed willingness to be the first to be inoculated with a Covid-19 vaccine to allay fears on its effectiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng Presidente hindi na makaantay. Gusto niyang talagang turukan na siya nang mapakita nga po sa buong bayan na ligtas at epektibo, ito po\u2019y dumaan sa<\/em>\u00a0expert panel group\u00a0nang pinakadalubhasang Pilipino<\/em>\u00a0(The President can\u2019t wait. He really wants to be the first to be vaccinated to show the whole nation that it\u2019s safe and effective, that it underwent an expert panel group of Filipino scientists),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Asked if Duterte would be willing to get inoculated with the vaccine live, Roque said it won\u2019t be necessary to make a spectacle out of the vaccination but it will all depend on the President.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all depends on the President.\u00a0Pero<\/em>\u00a0(But) the point is,\u00a0hindi naman kinakailangan na ipakitang<\/em>\u00a0live\u00a0iyan<\/em>\u00a0(It doesn\u2019t necessarily need to be live). But in any case, it\u2019s the President\u2019s decision; I will not second guess the President,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque, meanwhile, said he would leave to Cabinet secretaries to decide whether they are also willing to be inoculated with the vaccine. However, he noted that they would probably hesitate to avoid being criticized as being given \u201cVIP\u201d treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlam ninyo po<\/em>\u00a0personal\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0desisyon\u00a0iyan ng ating mga namumuno \u2018no pero kapag nangyari po iyan, babatuhin na naman ang gobyerno na inuuna ng bakuna ang mga<\/em>\u00a0VIPs\u00a0gaya ng nangyari doon sa<\/em>\u00a0[polymerase chain reaction] test \u2018no. So either way\u00a0talagang mayroon pong mga kritiko na mambabato<\/em>\u00a0(You know, that\u2019s the personal decision of our secretaries, but when it happens, they will be criticized that they are being given VIP treatment like what happened with PCR tests. So either way, there will be criticism),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said it would be more important to regain Filipinos\u2019 confidence about the importance of immunization.<\/p>\n

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said the government will purchase vaccines from four brands \u2014 Sinovac (China), Pfizer (US), AstraZeneca (UK), and Sputnik V (Russia).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s initial hesitation to pay a reservation fee to suppliers won\u2019t delay the Philippines\u2019 acquisition of supply …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":277017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277914","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\/277914","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=277914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277915,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277914\/revisions\/277915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}