Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Sunday, March 14, expressed hope there would be no more “dropping of the ball” and that all negotiations of the government on COVID-19 vaccine procurement would push through and at a faster speed especially at this point in time.
(Albert Calvelo / Senate PRIB / FILE PHOTO)
“Hopefully wala nang (there would be no more) dropping of the ball,” Lacson said in an interview over Radio DZBB.
“Because we cannot afford (it at this time), tumataas ang infection at kaso. Huwag na sana (cases of infection are rising. So I hope there would be no repeat of that),” he said.
Lacson was referring to the issue that was raised by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin, Jr. against Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III whom the top diplomat accused of bungling the negotiations with American drug maker Pfizer.
In December 2020, Locsin shared he and Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel “Babes” Romualdez were able to secure about 10 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to arrive in the country by January 2021, but the plan did not push through as “someone dropped the ball.” The senator said he can only hope none of that would happen again as the Philippines struggle to contain another surge of COVID-19 cases as shown in the recent data released by the DOH.
He said bungling another vaccine negotiation would once again put a damper on the government’s efforts to vaccinate a sizeable portion of the population to achieve herd immunity.
“Kaya dapat wala nang (That’s why there should be no) dropping of the ball the second time around. Tama na ang once (Once is enough),” the lawmaker stressed.