(FILE PHOTO) Retired PNP chief Guillermo Eleazar.
MANILA, Philippines — Senatorial aspirant and former police chief Guillermo Eleazar on Monday vowed to support the establishment of a national virology and vaccine institute to help the country in future health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Nakita natin kung paano tayo pinadapa ng kasalukuyang pandemya (we have seen how the current pandemic has brought us down). This must serve as a lesson for us to prepare in order to improve our capability to address the problem,” said Eleazar in a statement.
He then cited how it took time for the Philippines to get the needed supply for vaccines, as well as how the country had to send test results abroad to determine if a person was positive for COVID-19 during the start of the pandemic.
These, said Eleazar, are only some of the reasons why the creation of a centralized facility is essential as it will enable the country to understand the nature of new viruses and produce vaccines and diagnostic kits to counter them.
“This COVID-19 pandemic will definitely be not the last health crisis that the Philippines will face. Kailangan natin ng visionary leaders para mapaghandaan ang mga posibleng mangyaring pandemya sa hinaharap at isa ang pagtatatag ng virology and vaccine institute para malabanan natin ito,” said Eleazar.
(We need visionary leaders to prepare for possible future pandemics and one is the establishment of a virology and vaccine institute so that we can fight it.)
Eleazar’s pronouncement came after the Department of Science and Technology announced that it allotted some P800 million for the conduct of research and development for the planned establishment of the virology and vaccination institute.
DOST Secretary Fortunato dela Pena said the budget allocation was bigger compared to the P280-M funding last year.
The House of Representatives, meanwhile, has already passed a bill for the creation of the institute, while the counterpart bill in the Senate is set to undergo plenary debates.
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