MANILA, Philippines — Senator Richard Gordon denied Tuesday that the Department of Health (DOH) had sent a letter to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) last November regarding the latter’s application for saliva testing for COVID-19.
“I deny and reject what Dr. Vergeire said. They never sent us a letter on November 25,” said Gordon, who also chairs PRC, in an interview with reporters.
Gordon said they filed the application for COVID-19 saliva testing on October 17.
The senator issued the remarks in response to the statement of DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Monday saying it is not true the health agency did not respond to PRC’s application for saliva testing, which costs cheaper than testing swab samples.
“We have already clarified this. And again, I will say we have issued this letter to the Philippine Red Cross last November wherein we reiterated the recommendations which were provided by the laboratory experts panel,” Vergeire said in a virtual briefing.
“We did not receive any response from them after that. And we thought na ginagawa na nila ‘yung continuation ng study para lang magkaroon na tayo ng ebidensya (they just did a continuation of the study so that we will have more evidence on its efficacy),” she added.
KGA
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