Senator Christopher “Bong” Go on Monday, June 20 vowed to refile his bill seeking to establish the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines (VIP) in the 19th Congress.
“Having seen how good science helped and continues to help us combat the present pandemic, I remain hopeful that my colleagues will be more convinced of the necessity of this institute,” Go said in a statement.
“I will definitely push again for its approval this time,” said the Senate Committee on Health and Demography chief.
Go filed Senate Bill No. 2155, which sought to establish the VIP to boost the country's ability to develop vaccines against highly pathogenic emerging viruses, but the measure failed to be approve before the 18th Congress ended.
If it becomes a law, the VIP will serve as the principal laboratory of the country in providing virology laboratory investigations, research and technical coordiantion of the entire network of virology laboratories nationwide.
It aims to provide guidelines for the establishment and operation of testing, reference and biosafety Levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 research laboratories throughout the country.
“The last two years spent battling the pandemic have exposed one of the biggest weaknesses in our healthcare system---our inability to produce vaccines of our own,” the senator noted.
“My bill aims to establish a reliable national virology laboratory that shall play a critical role in surveillance, diagnosis and monitoring of viral diseases humans, plants and animals as well as in the understanding of the genetic changes in their viral genome as a prerequisite for a strong public health response to emerging, re-emerging and existing viral diseases in order to raise the level of health of the Filipino and improve their social, economic and cultural conditions,” explained Go.
He further said that the goal of the VIP is to help develop vaccines against highly pathogenic emerging viruses.
Such efforts, he said, are intended to avoid similar situations where poorer nations are left with fewer medical resources, particularly vaccines, to address pandemics as compared to their more developed countries that have early on invested in health sciences and medical research.
“Dapat handa tayo para hindi tayo mabigla dahil hindi naman natin masabi kung ito na ba ang huling pandemya na darating sa buhay natin (We need to be prepared so we won’t be at a sudden loss because we don’t know what kind of pandemic will hit us again in the future),” Go pointed out.
“Mas mabuti na handa tayo... mas mabuti nga magkaroon tayo ng sarili nating bakuna para hindi tayo umaasa sa ibang bansa. Mas mabuti na yung lagi tayong handa (It’s better to be prepared. It would even be better if we can make our own vaccines so we don’t have to rely on other countries. It’s best we are always prepared),” he stressed.