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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider DOF assures 'unhampered' private-led vaccine imports

DOF assures 'unhampered' private-led vaccine imports

Published May 20, 2021 04:01 pm

The Department of Finance (DOF) assured the private sector that the arrival of their coronavirus vaccines will have smooth and speedy processing at the ports of the Bureau of Customs.

As the first batch of vaccines procured by the private sector is expected to arrive by mid-June, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the process for Customs clearance is substantially the same as for the government and private vaccine imports.

Dominguez, however, noted that vaccines purchased by business groups through the Department of Health (DOH) will be treated as government-sanctioned imports by the Customs bureau.

“For Moderna and AZ , it would be the same since DOH is the consignee. For Sinovac, it may be a little different since consignee is the FFCCCII ,” Dominguez said.

Two private sector groups, led by billionaire Enrique Razon Jr. and Presidential Adviser Joey Concepcion, are expecting initial batches of their 18 million COVID-19 vaccine doses procured from US drug-maker Moderna and Europe's AstraZeneca will start arriving by June.

FFCCCII, meanwhile, expects some 500,000 doses of CoronaVac from the Beijing-based biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac.

“The process will be substantially be the same and liquidation will be done on an after the fact basis. Goods will pass through unhampered in order to ensure temperature stability,” Dominguez assured.

Last May 18, President Duterte approved the recommendation to begin the inoculation of economic frontliners to speed up the country’s vaccination program.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and Vaccine Czar Secretary Carlito G. Galvez Jr. said the vaccination of economic frontliners or those individuals falling under the A4 category could start immediately after this month.

A total of 12 million people are the targeted population for the economic frontliners including market vendors, logistics and transportation workers, frontline workers in banks, laborers in food delivery and retail, frontline personnel in education sector, and government workers.

At present, the government is prioritizing the inoculation of frontline healthcare workers (A1), senior citizens (A2), and persons with co-morbidities (A3).

Galvez said the vaccines that will be used for the inoculation of economic frontliners will come from the procurement of the government.

The focus areas are the National Capital Region, the six areas surrounding it namely Bulacan, Cavite, Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas, and Rizal; as well as Cebu in Visayas and Davao in Mindanao, Galvez said.

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