Senator Pia Cayetano said COVID-19 vaccines and other devices and raw materials needed for the government’s vaccination program could already have been exempted from Value Added Tax (VAT) had Congress adopted the Senate’s version of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) bill.

Cayetano, who chairs the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, expressed belief this could be a setback to the country’s COVID-19 immunization efforts, which is badly needed by the government to contain the pandemic.

“I agree with the call of my House counterpart to exempt COVID-19 vaccines from tax,” said Cayetano, responding to House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Joey Salceda’s call for the government to make the vaccines tax-free.

“In fact, VAT exemption is already provided in the CREATE bill, which the Senate passed on third and final reading last Nov. 26,” said Cayetano, who chairs the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

She said senators wanted a comprehensive list of exemptions to cover, not just the vaccines, but also all drugs, devices, raw materials, and capital equipment needed to help the government’s COVID-19 response.

Under the Senate’s version of the bill, VAT exemption for the sale and importation of all drugs, vaccines, and medical devices specifically prescribed and directly used for the treatment of COVID-19 will start beginning January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2023.

Capital equipment, its spare parts, and raw materials necessary for the production of personnel protective equipment for COVID-19 prevention are supposedly also covered.

The Senate also sought to exempt from VAT drugs for the treatment of COVID-19 approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in clinical trials, including raw materials directly necessary for the production of such drugs for that same period.

“This could have already been a law now if only the House of Representatives saw the merit in adopting our version before the session ended this year,” she lamented.