A Rizal congressman on Wednesday, June 16 underscored the need to revisit the implementing rules and guidelines being followed by the Food and Drug Administration in dealing with the approval of emergency use authority for vaccines, saying that this could help determine measures that will improve the rollout of the government vaccination program for the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

In a virtual press conference for House of Representatives media, Rizal 2nd District Rep. Fidel Nograles said Deputy Speaker and Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez raised a valid point when he complained against the lack of vaccine supply in Mindanao.

In the same news forum, Infrawatch convenor lawyer Terry Ridon and health systems specialist Dr. Albert Domingo tackled the possible reasons why vaccines appear to be coming to the country “in trickles” notwithstanding the availability of sufficient funds to ensure procurement.

“I agree with the deputy speaker that there is some sort of inequality in vaccine distribution. That is why we need to revisit our processes in the approval and procurement of vaccines in order to guarantee the arrival of the required supply and address the needs of our constituents,’ said Nograles.

He said Rodriguez’s appeal for a re-evaluation of the vaccine rollout is a valid plea amid the spike in COViD 19 in areas outside the national capital region.

“There is urgency in pushing for a policy shift to streamline the FDA processes. We have to make them efficient and responsive to the pandemic,” the lawmaker said.

Ridon, a former congressman who represented the Kabataan Partylist, said the availability of funds should have assured the country of “robust vaccine supply”.

He warned that while China has been very helpful in supplying much of the vaccine needs of the country, continued supply will be dictated on how friendly the next administration will be to the Chinese government.

Ridon said there is now a need for government to tap more vaccine sources, including those being developed by the Eurasian Economic Union that includes Russia that produces the Sputnik V vaccine.

“There is really a need to study the trade agreements in these areas,” he stressed.

For his part, Domingo said unpreparedness of the country to make available a reliable cold chain system could have been the problem in ensuring the arrival of vaccines with special temperature requirements.

Meanwhile, Nograles also stressed the need to put up news hospitals and strengthen the capability of existing ones, pointing out that these are urgent responses needed to address the epidemic.

He lauded the support of the Department of Health and Congress to the establishment of a hospital in Rizal area that will be backed by the national government.