GOVERNANCE MATTERS Former Vice President Jejomar Binay The recent hard lockdown has again disrupted business and economic activities in Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, and Rizal. These are the country’s major economic hubs, and disruptions in these areas impact heavily on the goal of recovery. It is perfectly understandable if the economic managers have grown impatient. The Socio-Economic Planning Secretary has been quoted as saying that we should not to be totally “risk-averse.” According to the Secretary, the economy can be opened while at the same time ensuring that public health is protected. For some observers, the statement betrays impatience, and can be interpreted as a technocrat’s way of reminding his colleagues in government to shape up. Perhaps the kind Secretary should have directed his statement at the Health Secretary. For if there is anyone whose actions, or the lack thereof, have unnecessarily delayed the road to economic recovery, it’s the Health Secretary and his aimless management of the health aspects of the government’s pandemic response. Take for example the matter of vaccines. From procurement to delivery, the country’s vaccination program has been mired in controversy, no thanks to the Health Secretary. He has been accused by a colleague, the Foreign Affairs Secretary, of “dropping the ball” on the purchase of vaccines from US manufacturers. This could have meant an early roll-out since we would have secured our supplies ahead of other countries. After much delay, the donated vaccines finally began arriving in late February. But now we learn that beyond the staged fanfare, the deliveries have been plagued by delays. The mayor of Manila has publicly announced his dismay at the Department of Health for the unpardonable delays in delivering the vaccines meant for his constituents. Health experts, government officials, and business leaders agree that the vaccination program is crucial in getting the economy up and running again. The private sector has been asking government to allow them to procure vaccines directly and vaccinate their employees, but the appeal has apparently fallen on deaf ears. This would greatly facilitate the vaccination drive, and expand coverage exponentially. But aside from the still low number of available vaccine doses, a new problem has cropped up. It has been confirmed that some two million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines are set to expire in June and July. Simply put, the Department of Health is not distributing the vaccines fast enough. At its present pace, experts estimate the national government would be able to meet its target of vaccinating 70 million Filipinos by 2023 at the earliest, and 2025 at the latest. And we have not even touched on the topic of vaccine hesitancy, which has been recorded at 61 percent according to a survey by Pulse Asia. I can only sympathize with former Armed Forces chief Carlito Galvez, the designated vaccine czar and head of the Inter-Agency Task Force overseeing government’s response to the pandemic. I have only heard good things about him. His reputation, competence, and integrity are beyond question. But he leads a task force composed of government officials of varying levels of competence. And that is not Galvez’ fault. He has to deal with officials who were appointed to their positions for largely political considerations. Even prior to the pandemic, some of these officials have been performing poorly, tumbling from one controversy to another. And these officials are now making literally life-and-death decisions. Most of these decisions have proven to be costly in terms of lives lost, jobs gone, and businesses shuttered. The Health Secretary is a prime example. In an interview last week, the former general was optimistic that we can look forward to a “better Christmas” this year. His optimism is based on a revision in government’s weekly vaccination target, from one million to two million vaccine shots to be administered this month, further increasing to three to five million by July. At this pace, he says government will be able to meet its target by December. But with the government’s vaccination program beset by a host of issues, and with competence still beyond the grasp of the leadership at DOH, that target may seem overly optimistic. [email protected]