Gov’t wants compensation fund set up for vaccine injuries

VIRUS DETECTION A woman takes a free reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test offered by the city government of Manila at Quirino Grandstand. Health officials say early detection of the virus causing COVID-19 is a critical step in containing the pandemic. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — In preparation for mass vaccinations later this year, the government wants an indemnification fund set up for Filipinos who may suffer from severe side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, the head of the administration’s vaccine program said on Monday.

Carlito Galvez Jr., who handles the vaccine procurement for the government, urged lawmakers to include in the proposed Bayanihan 3 law a provision awarding damages to citizens who may suffer from vaccine injuries.

Galvez supported an earlier recommendation of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to financially compensate recipients of vaccines under emergency use authorization.

During a hearing called by the health committee of the House of Representatives, Galvez explained that COVAX, the World Health Organization (WHO) procurement pool led by the Gavi vaccine alliance, manufacturers are not liable for injuries as national governments assume responsibility for the use of vaccines covered by emergency permits.

Legislation needed

“All countries signed the indemnification clause in which manufacturers won’t be liable, unless it is willful neglect and they have lapses. So we are asking for legislation [of] indemnification because this is very important,” Galvez said.

“The COVAX requires that we have an indemnification law. Remember that we have 40 million doses riding on this. It’s better that in the Bayanihan 3 there will be an indemnification clause,” he said.

Common side effects of vaccination include pain and swelling on the spot where the needle went in, fever, tiredness, chills and headache.

Duque earlier asked the Senate to legislate indemnification for vaccine recipients who may suffer severe or life-threatening side effects of the COVID-19 shots.

“The indemnification fund will help people or individuals who will experience serious side effects and they can be adequately compensated, or those adverse serious events following the immunization,” Duque told the House health panel on Monday.

Director General Eric Domingo of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) supported the proposal, saying that in other countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, “there are laws for indemnification or compensation in case of vaccine injury.”

Emergency use permit

“This is the policy of many other nations. It’s about time [we considered] this, not only for COVID-19 but [also] for other vaccination programs,” Domingo told the committee.

The FDA has granted emergency use authorization to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and is considering the applications of AstraZeneca of the United Kingdom, Gamaleya Research Institute of Russia, and Sinovac Biotech of China.

Earlier, the government said it might begin rolling out COVID-19 vaccines in February with the delivery of the first batches of the Pfizer and Sinovac shots. The full implementation of the vaccination program for the priority sectors may begin in the third quarter with the arrival of the bulk of the various vaccine orders.

Galvez said areas with high numbers of COVID-19 cases, such as Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Davao, would get priority in the vaccinations.

He said there were more than 25 million sectoral priorities in these areas: 1.8 million front-line health workers, 3.8 million poor senior citizens, 5.7 million other senior citizens, 13 million other poor citizens, and 523,523 uniformed personnel, or 22 percent of the country’s population of 108.8 million.

Galvez also said the Philippines would get 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine of the US pharmaceutical company Moderna, of which 10 million would be for the private sector and the other 10 million for the government.

The Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 (HPAAC) on Monday said at least 20 million Filipinos needed to be vaccinated for the country to achieve herd immunity.

But the number could go higher as the coronavirus transmission rate goes up, according to the HPAAC’s Dr. Anna Ong-Lim.

Immunizing 20 million Filipinos against COVID-19 on top of the regular immunization programs will be difficult, “but if we don’t vaccinate, it will not be pleasant and it will take longer before we achieve herd immunity,” Lim said in an online press briefing.

The HPAAC asked local governments and private businesses to let health experts evaluate which vaccines were safe and effective to procure and for how much.

Rising infections

Most local governments have decided to procure the AstraZeneca vaccine because of its 60 percent to 80 percent effectiveness and low price, $10 (P500) for the two-dose regimen.

Coronavirus infections are increasing once more, according to health experts, although they cannot say for sure whether there is a surge.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a news briefing on Monday that a rise in cases had been observed in Metro Manila.

“We will see this week if there is really an upward trend,” she said.

On Monday, the DOH logged 2,163 additional infections, raising the overall number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to 502,736.

Davao City recorded most of the new cases, 134, followed by Cagayan province (100), Quezon City (99), Leyte (93) and Cavite (75).

The DOH said two more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 465,988. The death toll rose to 9,909 with the deaths of 14 more patients.

The deaths and recoveries left the country with 26,839 active cases, of which 85.5 percent were mild, 6.1 percent asymptomatic, 0.44 percent moderate, 2.8 percent severe, and 4.9 percent critical.

—With a report from Dona Z. Pazzibugan