Senator Cynthia Villar insisted on Friday that private companies should have the right to decide to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines that they have directly purchased for their employees without the government's intervention.
(Senate of the Philippines / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
During the Senate Committee of the Whole's second hearing on the country's immunization against COVID-19, Villar said private institutions should no longer be required to follow the prioritization and distribution guidelines of the government since they would already be donating half of their purchases for public use.
"Nag-donate na sila ng (They would be donating) 50 percent so that will cover want they want to serve, the government. But the 50 percent should go to the employees, kasi pag hindi nila binigyan yong employees nila, hindi mapo-protect 'yon, hindi magbubukas ang economy (because if they do not give their employees the vaccine, they cannot protect their business, the economy will not reopen)," said the senator, whose family is engaged in real estate and retail business.
"Why will they buy if they cannot give it to their employees?" she pointed out.
Under the tripartite agreement signed by the national government, the private sector and UK-based pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca in November last year, half of the vaccine supply must be donated to the government for the inoculation of indigent Filipinos while the other half will be distributed among the private sector.
National Task Force against COVID-19 chief and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said all the vaccines purchased by the private sector would still be handled and administered by the Department of Health (DOH) to look out for their adverse effects once injected to the people.
Companies, he added, should also comply with the government's prioritization rule for the inoculation, with low-income frontliners and essential workers first, before giving the vaccine to remaining employees.
"This will follow the DOH guidelines on the prioritization, considering that the private sector should follow also the principle of equitable access," Galvez said, later noting that it was the World Health Organization's directive to prioritize the poor and vulnerable.
Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion, who signed the tripartite deal on behalf of the private sector, said that it was AstraZeneca's "very strict" condition to have half of the vaccine supply donated and to have the national government execute the vaccinations.
It was also in the agreement that executives of the companies and their families cannot be included in the purchases from AstraZeneca, since the drug makers also follows an "equitable, no-privilege access" policy in supplying the coronavirus vaccines to various countries.
"''Yong pwede lang dito 'yong mga frontliners, merchandisers, mga security guards (This only covers frontliners, like merchandisers and security guards)," Concepcion said.
"That is the very strict rule that Astrazeneca has asked us to follow. Or else they might not continue with this program anymore under this zero-profit," he added.
But Villar maintained: "Why will they follow? They bought it, they donated one-half. So they have the right to determine what will they will do the one-half."
"Hindi mo naman pwedeng sabihn na ito lang bibigyan mo, di mo bibigyan 'yong mga manager mo. Without the managers who will manage the tindera (sellers)? And who will manage the accounting, the other work of the company? This is impractical," she complained.
She said the companies should just be allowed to buy vaccines directly from the pharmaceutical companies, "because if we do it this way, the DOH will still be meddling to whom the companies will give the vaccines."
Officials earlier said that vaccine manufacturers are not keen on negotiating with private companies and local governments without the national government due to safety concerns, since their products are still undergoing clinical trials.