Filipinos can only pray and hope that the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and the Department of Health (DOH) properly implement the vaccination plan they laid out during the public hearing yesterday by the Senate constituted as a Committee of the Whole (COW), Senator Panfilo M. Lacson said.
(SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
‘’While the plan may sound good, the difference is in the implementation – the reaction and responses to emergencies. Without proper execution, a plan no matter how good it is written and presented, won’t mean anything,’’ he stressed.
Lacson said that it is not fair to say that Filipinos cannot choose their vaccines, at least from those made available by the government.
‘’It’s bad enough that the national government virtually controls which brands of vaccines to procure. Pati ba naman ang pagpili kung ano ituturok sa braso ng mga Pilipino, hindi pa rin pwede mamili ang Pilipino?’’ he asked. (Filipinos cannot even choose the brand of the vaccine when they get inoculated?)
‘’Bakit ko naman pipiliin ang brand na 50 percent lang ang efficacy at wala man lang application for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), against other brands with 79 percent and/or 95 percent efficacy and have pending EUA approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? he added. (Why should I choose a brand that has a 50 percent efficacy and no application for EUA, against other brands with…)