Iloilo, et al should reject ‘direct vaccine purchase’

By Alex P. Vidal

 

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”—Abraham Lincoln

ALTHOUGH the City and Province of Iloilo are not among the poorest in the Philippines, they should nevertheless reject the absurd suggestion made by the country’s newly appointed “vaccine czar”, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. for the local government units (LGUs) to purchase their own supply of coronavirus disease 2019 (COIVD-19) vaccines.

“I have raised it (with) the President but we are considering what he has been saying that it should not be that some barangays or towns might be left behind because they (cannot)afford to buy the vaccine. That’s what we’ll look into because we don’t want to (commit) injustice to those people who cannot buy it,” Galvez reportedly said in an online briefing on December 19.

“What we will do is to balance it. We can allow it provided that the (instructions) of our President to prioritize the poor, the health workers, our service (employees) and front-liners could be complied with,” he added.

It’s unbelievable that the country’s “vaccine czar” has thought of giving this colossal responsibility of scrambling for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines to the LGUs even as an international effort to acquire vaccines for low-and middle-income countries has been struggling to gain traction.

 

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It’s good to empower the local leaders and take them to task for this historic transaction, but Galvez’s proposal is not only discriminatory, but it is also impractical and downright scrappy.

Only rich cities like Puerto Princesa (which reportedly was prepared to spend some P100 million to buy vaccines for its residents), Makati, Quezon, Manila can afford it—only if they will accept Galvez’s challenge.

It will discriminate against the country’s poorest provinces like Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Saranggani, Northern Samar, Maguindanao, Bukidnon, Sultan Kudarat, Zamboanga del Norte, Siquijor, Agusan del Sur, Eastern Samar, Lanao del Norte, Mt. Province, Western Samar, North Cotabato, Catanduanes, Leyte, Negros Oriental, Zamboanga Sibugay, and Sorsogon.

The procurement of vaccines for coronavirus and other diseases is the primary obligation of the Department of Health (DOH), not of LGUs.

But Galvez said, “Malacañang was considering whether to allow local government units (LGUs) to procure their own supply of COVID-19 vaccine.”

 

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Secretary Galvez should leave the LGUs alone.

The local chief executives are already encumbered and fighting tooth and nail against hard-headed violators of social distancing and mask-wearing protocols in their areas.

It may be too stressful and cumbersome for the governors, mayors, and village chiefs to be given this additional task reserved for our health department.

To avoid confusion, corruption and red tape, the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines should be centralized.

The Palace must designate the DOH to handle the job.

The health department can effectively distribute and manage the vaccinations by tapping all its regional offices and utilizing their manpower nationwide.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III should be the one to deal with the vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer, AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer, and Sanofi.

It was reported that wealthy countries have struck deals ahead of tiny Philippines to buy more than two billion doses of coronavirus vaccine in a scramble that could leave limited supplies in the coming year.

 

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Predictions by most experts that 2020 or early 2021 was the soonest vaccines could be approved and rolled out came true with the start of vaccinations in the United States right now after Pfizer and Moderna have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Both vaccines have undergone large-scale phase III clinical trials to assess their effectiveness and safety.

Pre-orders were rolling in.

The United States had secured 800 million doses of at least 6 vaccines in development, with an option to purchase around one billion more as early as August.

The United Kingdom was the world’s highest per-capita buyer, with 340 million purchased: around 5 doses for each citizen.

The European Union nations—which are buying vaccines as a group — and Japan have locked down hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines for themselves.

 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)