Sen. Panfilo Lacson. Senate PRIB file photo / Henzberg Austria
MANILA, Philippines — It is not “credit-grabbing” but a statement of fact to say the Senate may have contributed to the lowering of price of Sinovac’s vaccine, Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Tuesday.
“Possibilities yun, that’s in the realm of possibilities na kung sakaling hindi ito nabunyag sa publiko, e pwedeng mangyari na tuloy-tuloy yung negotiation, napako tayo dun sa P1,800 kada dose o P3,600, two doses. Nasa realm ng possibility,” Lacson said over Teleradyo.
(Those are possibilities, that’s in the realm of possibilities that if this has not been exposed, negotiations would have pushed through, and the price would have been fixed at P1,800 per dose or P3,600 for two doses. That’s in the realm of possibility)
“Ang sinasabi ko lang, kung totoo yun pwede natin sabihin na merong share yung Senado dun sa particular na issue na yun na napababa yung presyo at binigyan natin ng kredito yung mga netizens kasi sila rin yung mapag-matyag at tsaka talagang nagre-research din,” Lacson added.
(What I’m just saying, if that’s true, we can say the Senate has its share on that particular issue of lowering the price and we credit the netizens because they have been observant and they’ve been researching also.)
“So hindi yun credit grabbing, nag i-state lang tayo ng fact kasi nga nag-ugat naman yung mga sinasabi natin sa kanila rin e. Sino ba nagpro-provide sa amin ng datos? Kami taga tanong lang, sila ang taga sagot,” he also said.
(So that’s not credit-grabbing, we’re just stating the fact which also came from them. Who’s providing us data? We’re just asking questions, and they are the ones providing answers.)
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier disclosed that the Sinovac vaccine would only cost not more than P7700 per dose, contrary to the P1,800 per dose or P3,600 for two doses being reported in the media.
Galvez also clarified the price had been negotiated even before the Senate probed the government’s vaccination program.
“Masyado nang-aangkin ng accomplishment yung ano…kasi kahit na nung wala pa yung Senate hearing, yung price ay ganun na po talaga,” he said over ABS-CBN’s Channel on Monday.
In the same interview, Lacson also clarified that Sinovac is not being singled out as another vaccine from the US brand Pfizer may also be tackled in the Senate probe following the reported deaths of some elderly in Norway after getting the said vaccine.
It just happened, he said, that the bribery allegations and other questions surrounding the efficacy and safety of Sinovac’s vaccine had been reported first in the media.
“Unang una, sobrang depensa talaga e. Yung Sinovac parang sobra-sobrang depensa nila. Sila yung nakatuon dun e,” Lacson said, noting some officials’ statements that the vaccine would be used when it has yet to get the approval of the Food and Drug Administration.
(First of all, they are very defensive. Sinovac seems to defend themselves too much. They are attuned to that.)
Only Pfizer’s vaccine has so far granted an emergency use authorization against Covid-19 by the country’s regulators.