Can private firms charge employees for dependents’ doses?

MODERNA JABS, ANYONE? The Philippines received its first shipment of 249,600 Moderna doses on June 27. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — Can private companies charge employees for the vaccines of their dependents? Or should they also shoulder the cost of the additional jabs?

These questions cropped up after two people interviewed by the Inquirer said the companies they work for had charged them P3,000 for two doses of the Moderna vaccine for every dependent they wanted vaccinated.

They clarified, however, that they would be getting the same vaccine brand free of charge, courtesy of their respective firms. Both asked not to be identified to avoid jeopardizing their work relationship with their employers.

Reimbursement allowed

In general, the sale of COVID-19 vaccines or even a slot in the country’s vaccination program is illegal since the jabs are covered only by an emergency use authorization issued by the Food and Drug Administration.

In reply to the Inquirer’s request for comment, authorities said that companies may seek reimbursement from their employees for their dependents’ vaccines as long as they do not profit from the arrangement.

The National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) referred to its June 3 joint memorandum with the Department of Health (DOH) allowing the “procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines for private entities.”

Under its implementing guidelines, the NTF said that “the vaccination of employees shall be entirely free of charge.”

“Nonetheless, the private entities may enter into arrangements with their employees that will allow such employees to designate other persons as vaccine recipients provided that such persons are limited to the Designated Persons as defined herein and allow the private entity to be reimbursed by its employees for the vaccines of their respective Designated Persons, not exceeding the cost of such vaccines,” it added.

No charge for markup

Designated persons refer to an employee’s legal or common-law spouse, children, and relatives up to the fourth degree of consanguinity. It may also include house helpers who share the same household with the employee or any other dependent.

“The private entities shall in no case charge any markup or profit margin for the vaccines and shall ensure transparency to their employees as to the cost thereof, to the extent allowed by the multiparty agreement,” the NTF said.

According to the task force, the arrangement between the company and its employees may include “a reasonable charge on the employees” for expenses such as ancillary supply, rent of vaccination site, and the fees of vaccinators, “but only with respect to the vaccination of the designated person and not of the employee himself.”

Free gov’t vaccine services

The company may also tap the vaccination services of the local government for free, it said.

In a Viber message to the Inquirer, National Vaccination Operations Center chief and Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said that companies charging the cost of dependents’ vaccination to employees’ salaries was “allowed,” as long as there was no markup on the vaccine price.

Both employees told the Inquirer that their companies had ordered the Moderna vaccines under the tripartite deal signed among the vaccine manufacturer, the national government and the International Container Terminal Services Inc.

On June 27, the Philippines received its first shipment of 249,600 Moderna doses, of which 99,600 doses went to the private sector.