MANILA, Philippines — With Congress’ passage of a bill that would establish an indemnity fund, some senators believe the executive department would have “no more excuses” for any further delays on the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccine in the country.
Congress passed Tuesday a measure seen to expedite the procurement and administration of vaccines in the country, as well as create a national indemnity fund to compensate inoculated individuals who may experience adverse side effects.
“There should be no more excuses. But I am holding my breath for the next excuse and finger-pointing,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said in a message to reporters on Wednesday.
The bill is now up for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature.
‘End vaccine drought’
“As far as we are concerned, based on the information relayed to us by the executive branch, the indemnification fund is the only missing element for us to be able to procure the vaccines, which came too late, but just the same, the Senate acted immediately,” Senator Joel Villanueva said.
READ: Pandemic managers raised urgency of indemnity law only in February – senators
“With this, we should end our vaccine drought, everything is on the table…Anything less than that is just pure incompetence,” he added.
Senator Francis Pangilinan, for his part, said timely rollout of the vaccine program was entirely up to the executive branch and should not have been dependent on the passage of the measure.
“The passage or non-passage of the bill was a belated and—to my mind—unfounded reason given for the inability to purchase vaccines. With or without the law, the Executive Department must shape up and get its act straight,” he said in a statement.
“Sa basketball, hindi lang puro pasa-bola ang dapat alam gawin. Dapat marunong ding mag-shoot. Dropped the ball na nga sila noon. ‘Yung vaccine bill na pinasa ng Senado kahapon, parang ‘yung center ng kalaban, binuhat na sila sa ring para i-shoot,” he added.
He then called on the executive to provide Filipinos with a definite timeline on the arrival of Covid-19 vaccines.
“Ngayon, pagkatapos isubo na lahat sa kanila ng Senado, kailangan ng mas definitive timeline. Mahaba na ang listahan ng utang sa international creditors, mahaba na ang pila ng gustong magpabakuna, wala pa ang bakuna,” he said.
Pangilinan likewise appealed for transparency on the agreements that the government will enter into, saying Filipinos should not be “at the losing end of any deal even as they seek the precious doses of protection from the virus.”
Meanwhile, Senator Grace Poe underscored the need to fast-track vaccine availability to Filipinos.
“The stage is set for the vaccination program rollout. Congress has done its role with the passage of the measure that will expedite procurement and provide indemnity in case of side effects,” she said in a separate statement.
“Now, the people await the results. We hope it won’t be for long before the safe and effective doses land on the arms of our health workers, at-risk sectors, and finally the rest of the population,” she added.
The government’s vaccination program was supposed to begin mid-February with the arrival of 117,000 doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine through the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility. However, the delivery was delayed due to a hitch in paperwork processing.
READ: Drilon hits ‘mismanaged’ Covid-19 procurement process
It was later revealed that Pfizer-BioNTech had requested an indemnity agreement with the country. The Philippines has already signed and submitted an indemnity agreement, and the vaccine manufacturer still has to submit its counter-offer.
Some 600,000 vaccine doses from Chinese drugmaker Sinovac were also supposed to arrive on February 23 but were also delayed as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had only recently issued its vaccine an emergency use authorization. This batch was Beijing’s donation to Manila. The Chinese government would need at least three days to process its delivery of the vaccines.
Despite criticisms over delayed deliveries of anti-Covid shots to the Philippines, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the administration “stands by” its vaccine cluster and negotiating panel.
Nograles earlier said President Rodrigo Duterte is not holding anyone accountable for the delay in the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines even as the chief executive expressed impatience over the hold-up in the arrival of jabs.
“In our timelines, we’ve always been very clear, quite clear that these are the vaccine brands we are expecting to come by the first quarter. We’ve said kung ano ‘yung ine-expect in the second, third, and fourth quarter,” Nograles also said.