MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said that it no longer has a definite timeline for the arrival of donated bivalent vaccines in the country due to the lack of a legal basis for entering into agreements with its manufacturer.
According to DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire in a press forum, the government currently has no legal basis for entering agreements with vaccine manufacturer COVAX after the end of the COVID-19 state of calamity resulted in the nullification of Republic Act 11525.
RA 11525, or the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021, used to contain the provision addressing indemnification and immunity of liability. Vergeire explained that with the lapse of the COVID-19 state of calamity, this provision which served as the legal basis for agreements with various sources of COVID-19 vaccines, “ceased to exist.”
“At ‘yun po hinihingi ng manufacturers [in its conditions], immunity of liability and indemnification within our jurisdiction. Isa ‘yan sa pinaguusapan between and among the Department of Justice, Office of the President, and Office of the Solicitor General,” she said.
(And that’s what the manufacturers are asking for in its conditions: immunity of liability and indemnification within our jurisdiction. That’s one of the things discussed between and among DOJ, Office of the President, and OSG.)
“We started working on this as early as February, at talagang hanggang sa ngayon wala pa tayong makitang remedy na pwede sa ngayon, because wala nga pong basihan ang ating gobyerno to enter in these agreements as for the timeline, we will wait for this legal basis for us to enter into this agreements, until we can be able to provide or citizens the exact timeline as to when bivalent vaccines will be available,” said Vergeire.
(We started working on this as early as February, and really until now, we have not found a remedy that is possible right now, because our government does not have a basis to enter into these agreements, as for the timeline, we will wait for this legal basis for us to enter into these agreements until we can be able to provide or citizens the exact timeline as to when bivalent vaccines will be available.)
Vergeire said that the most “concrete option” the DOH has to address the problem is the passing of the Center for Disease Control Bill in June, which will contain the legal basis for the required provisions by manufacturers.
“Rest assured kausap namin ang COVAX facility, hindi po sila tumatakbo or running away from their commitment ang sabi nila, sila ay magaantabay lang na magkaroon tayo ng enough basis and are still very much interested to donate,” said Vergeire.
(Rest assured we are talking to the COVAX facility; they say they are not running away from their commitment. They are just waiting for us to have enough basis and are still interested in donating.)
Meanwhile, two additional countries had expressed willingness to donate bivalent vaccines to the country, according to Vergeire.
The DOH previously said that the first batch of donated bivalent vaccines was expected to arrive by March.
READ: Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines coming soon — DOH
A total of 1,002,000 doses of the bivalent vaccines from COVAX were expected to arrive and to be inoculated to the country’s vulnerable population, A1, A2, A3, or healthcare workers, senior citizens, and those with comorbidities.
Bivalent vaccines are a type of vaccine that targets specific variants of COVID-19, like the more transmissible Omicron.
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