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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Senators warn gov't to 'proceed with caution' in COVID vaccine purchase and distribution plan

Senators warn gov't to 'proceed with caution' in COVID vaccine purchase and distribution plan

Published Jul 31, 2020 01:12 pm

Senators on Friday urged the government to proceed with caution on its plan to purchase and distribute COVID-19 vaccines once they are available.

President Duterte, in a taped address aired Friday morning, announced his plan for a mass immunization program for coronavirus. An initial fund of P20 billion will be allocated for the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccines that will be given for free to the poor and the sick.

Senator Joel Villanueva said coronavirus vaccines are still undergoing the World Health Organization's (WHO) evaluation and that there are risks involved with developing them in haste.

The WHO said that as of July 27, 25 candidate vaccines are under various stages of clinical evaluation with at least five of them in the third phase of the clinical trials.

"Not to be overly optimistic, we wish that there will be transparency in the experimental results of these vaccines," Villanueva said.

"We know the urgency to have a vaccine as soon as possible but there are risks attached to fast tracking the development of vaccines that normally takes 10 years to produce," he added.

He urged the Food and Drug Administration to "exercise rigor in approving the vaccines that will be available for us."

Villanueva added that "no one should be discriminated against from accessing the vaccine."

"It’s the obligation of the State to support the right to health," he said.
Senator Francis Pangilinan said that President Duterte should fire Health Secretary Francisco Duque III before implementing his free vaccine distribution plan.

"Before we even begin to take the President's plan seriously, he should fire Duque. His (Duterte) proposals to address COVID rings hollow and empty when he condones incompetence and corruption and when his team continues to miss their targets for mass testing, contact tracing, and treatment, and in doing so has miserably failed to stop the spread of the disease," Pangilinan said.

The opposition senator has been firm in his call for Duque's resignation. He recently voted against the passage of the proposed Bayanihan 2 law in the Senate as he stood pat that Duque should step down before additional funds are released to the Department of Health (DOH) for its COVID-19 response.

Early this month, the DOH said the country is set to participate in the clinical trials for five candidate vaccines for COVID-19 from China and Taiwan. The DOH is also preparing for its participation in the WHO's Solidarity Trials for Vaccine. 

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