{"id":278934,"date":"2020-12-17T06:36:55","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T11:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=278934"},"modified":"2020-12-17T06:36:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T11:36:55","slug":"duterte-saw-no-major-lapse-in-vaccine-negotiations-with-pfizer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/12\/17\/duterte-saw-no-major-lapse-in-vaccine-negotiations-with-pfizer\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte saw ‘no major lapse’ in vaccine negotiations with Pfizer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Roque said the President did not see this as a major issue since negotiations with the US drug company are still ongoing. (File: TOTO LOZANO\/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte saw \u201cno major lapse\u201d in the country\u2019s deal with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer on the purchase of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines, Malaca\u00f1ang said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., in a tweet, said someone had \u201cdropped the ball\u201d in negotiations with Pfizer on the delivery of 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.<\/p>\n

Locsin explained that he and Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel \u201cBabe\u201d Romualdez had arranged for the delivery of vaccines with help of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as early as July.<\/p>\n

Senator Panfilo \u201cPing\u201d Lacson later blamed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III for failing to prepare the confidentiality disclosure agreement for the acquisition of vaccines.<\/p>\n

Duque denied that he did not act quick enough in preparing the necessary documentation for the deal with Pfizer.<\/p>\n

Roque said the President did not see this as a major issue since negotiations with the US drug company are still ongoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think from the overall demeanor of the President\u00a0e wala naman po siyang nakikita na<\/em>\u00a0major lapse (he doesn\u2019t see any major lapse),\u201d Roque said in a Palace press briefing.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that acquiring doses of vaccine for the country was tricky since wealthy nations have already bought up at least 80 percent of the supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala rin pong danyos na nangyari<\/em>\u00a0because patuloy\u00a0pa rin po ang pagkuha natin ng<\/em>\u00a0Pfizer\u00a0at yung katotohanan na bagamat sinabi na dapat<\/em>\u00a0January\u00a0tayo makakakuha ng<\/em>\u00a0Pfizer,\u00a0ang realidad po talaga,<\/em>\u00a0spoken for\u00a0na po yung mga ginawa o na<\/em>-manufacture\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0Pfizer for delivery in January\u00a0dahil \u2018yan po ay bayad na ng mga bumili<\/em>\u00a0(There was no damage done because our negotiations with Pfizer are ongoing and there\u2019s the reality that even if they say we could have acquired Pfizer vaccines by January, the reality is that wealthy countries have paid for them already),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Citing vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., Roque said the Philippines could still get hold of Pfizer\u2019s vaccine between the second and third quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cTuloy po ang ating negosasyon sa<\/em>\u00a0Pfizer.\u00a0At inaasahan po natin na darating ang<\/em>\u00a0Pfizer\u00a0sa<\/em>\u00a0second to third quarter (Our negotiations with Pfizer are ongoing. We expect the vaccines by the second to the third quarter),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Earlier, he said the government is also currently in negotiations with other big pharmaceutical companies namely AstraZeneca (UK), Sinovac Biotech (China), and Sputnik V (Russia) for potential vaccine deals.<\/p>\n

\u2018Answer allegations\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roque said Duterte also ordered Duque to answer Lacson\u2019s allegations that he should be faulted for failure to acquire vaccines earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi po namin alam kung ano talaga yung pinag-usapan ni<\/em>\u00a0Secretary Locsin, Ambassador Romualdez,\u00a0at<\/em>\u00a0Secretary Pompeo.\u00a0Kaya nga po minabuti ni Presidente na advisan si<\/em>\u00a0(We don\u2019t know what Secretary Locsin, Ambassador Romualdez, and Secretary Pompeo talked about. That\u2019s why the President advised) Secretary Duque, answer the allegations of Secretary Locsin in the same manner that he defended himself in yesterday\u2019s meeting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also reiterated that it was almost \u201cimpossible\u201d to acquire the Pfizer vaccines by January since wealthier countries have already paid for them in advance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng ini-<\/em>emphasize\u00a0natin, mukha naman pong imposible talagang makakuha tayo ng<\/em>\u00a0Pfizer as of January\u00a0kasi yung<\/em>\u00a0January deliverables\u00a0nila<\/em>\u00a0(What we\u2019re emphasizing is that it seems impossible to get Pfizer vaccines by January because the January deliverables are) completely paid for already by the rich countries so let\u2019s not speculate anymore\u00a0at ang importante ay patuloy po ang pag-uusap at mukhang makakakuha naman talaga tayo ng<\/em>\u00a0(what\u2019s important is negotiations are ongoing and it looks like we can still acquire) Pfizer anytime between second and third quarter of next year,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Roque said the contradicting statements among Cabinet officials\u2014Locsin and Duque\u2014would not affect the country\u2019s purchase of vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese conflicting opinions between Secretary Locsin and Secretary Duque in the end, does not really matter because it\u2019s Secretary Galvez who has the full authority and he will be fully accountable to the President,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte saw \u201cno major lapse\u201d in the country\u2019s deal with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer on the purchase …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":277200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278934","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=278934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278943,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278934\/revisions\/278943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}