Over 200 firms support AstraZeneca deal

MANILA, Philippines — Hundreds of companies have expressed support for the procurement of a second batch of COVID-19 vaccines by the private sector from British drug maker AstraZeneca.

Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion said in a statement yesterday that there has been amazing turnout for the purchase of a second batch of COVID-19 vaccines, as more than 200 companies expressed interest.

Among the companies that placed orders are Ayala Corp. with 400,000 vaccine doses, Palawan Pawnshop with 100,000 doses, Okada Manila with 40,000, Uratex Philippines with 21,000, Century Pacific Food Inc. and Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. with 20,000 doses each, Golden Arches Development Corp. with 15,000 and Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. with 10,000 doses.

Following the announcement of the procurement for a second batch of COVID-19 vaccines, meetings were also held with business groups including the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, British Chamber of Commerce Philippines, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Entrepreneurs Organization, Philippine Franchise Association, Association of the Filipino Franchisers Inc., Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc., and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“Although we expected it somehow, we were happy that more and more private sector partners are now taking part in this initiative—ending the war against COVID-19. This only means that the business community is very serious in ensuring that our economy will remain open while slowly ending this war,” Concepcion said.

Earlier this month, Concepcion announced that AstraZeneca approved the request of the private sector for a second batch of procurement of COVID-19 vaccines for donations.

Similar to the first batch of procurement, the base cost for each dose is $5.

Under the agreement signed by Concepcion along with more than 30 private sector representatives, and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. with AstraZeneca Philippines country president Lotis Ramin last month, the private sector will purchase 2.6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Half of the vaccines will be donated to the Department of Health and the rest would be for employees in the private sector.

As the door opens to more businesses for access to vaccines, Concepcion is encouraging firms to express their interest to join, as he will help them personally.

He said he recently met with Philippine Retailers Association president Rosemarie Ong to discuss the initiative.

“I shared with them that it’s important to vaccinate all the frontliners in the retail sector, supermarkets, department stores and malls,” he said.

Various entities like microfinance institutions have also been in touch with Go Negosyo and Concepcion for the initiative.

Microfinance Council of the Philippines Inc. executive director Allan Robert Sicat has been linking microfinance institutions with Go Negosyo and Concepcion.

Center for Agriculture and Rural Development founder and managing director Jaime Aristotle Alip is also among those interested in the project.

With micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) severely affected by the pandemic, Concepcion sees the initiative as a step for these businesses to bounce back.

“MSMEs are one of the greatly affected in this pandemic. Right now, as some of their businesses are closed, they don’t have a cash flow. So now, this is why we want to really help, I think the real solution here is control the situation and control the infection, get rid of the virus—and this is only possible through the vaccine,” he said.

“Many business organizations are wanting to be in the second part, and this could be the last. Just look at it, the cost of testing using antigen is P500, RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) P2,500 and up. This is P500 for two doses, an offer from Astra from their zero profit program for 2021, this is the only way to accelerate our economic recovery and save lives,” he added.

Better coordination needed

Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday called for more coordinated efforts on the country’s purchase of COVID-19 vaccines.

She noted that government officials are providing conflicting statements with regard to the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.

“While the government is saying vaccines are arriving in March, others are saying we are far from the list. So, there are a lot of information coming. I hope they talk so the government will have one voice,” Robredo said in her weekly program over dzXL.

She said the officials’ conflicting statements only add to the worries of Filipinos amid the pandemic, especially since they see other nations which have started vaccinating their citizens.

Robredo said the government should now focus on the acquisition of the vaccines.

“They should exert effort to allay the fears of the people and assure them that the vaccine is coming,” she said.

In a related development, Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas backed the proposal yesterday to allow local government units (LGUs) to procure COVID-19 vaccines on their own, and unburden the national government where vaccines can be prioritized to frontliners and many others.

“I hope the national government will decentralize the procurement and vaccination process to ensure a speedy and efficient roll-out, especially as some of our LGUs have expressed their readiness and have set aside their own funds for their constituents,” he said.

The Quezon City government is looking to spend P1 billion on COVID-19 vaccines, according to Joseph Juico, co-chair of the city’s COVID-19 task force. The cities of Manila, Davao, Iligan, among others, have also said they have set aside funds for purchasing vaccines.

Vargas, chairman of the House social services committee, said that by allowing LGUs with the capacity to pay for their own vaccines, the national government can focus on other priority areas, such as inoculating frontline workers and localities that have lower income.

Congress has allotted P72.5 billion in the proposed 2021 national budget for the purchase of COVID vaccines next year.

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said the government must immediately put up at least P150 billion, which is estimated to be enough to pay for the inoculation of 60 to 70 percent of the population.

He said the economy is expected to contract by 10 percent this year due to the pandemic, or an estimated loss of nearly P2 trillion in gross domestic product.

“In terms of lost opportunity, we should have grown another P1.950 trillion. So, we lost P3.9 trillion this year because of the pandemic, in terms of productivity,” the senator said in a television interview last week.

“So why not spend P150 billion more for the vaccines, train our health workers, pay them properly, so on and so forth. We cannot afford this (negative growth) another three to five years. Restoring the confidence of the people and investors by ensuring that majority of the population are vaccinated would prevent economic scarring,” he said.

“When businesses close, it’s harder to reopen,” Recto added.

Stop bickering

Cabinet officials bickering over issues concerning the government’s procurement of COVID-19 vaccines should end their quarrel and instead focus on generating confidence among Filipinos on the serums to be purchased, Sen. Bong Go said yesterday.

Go mentioned in particular Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who apparently are alluding to each other over the reported failure of the Duterte administration to procure 10 million doses of Pfizer vaccines.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson earlier named Duque as the one who “dropped the ball” as alluded to by Locsin last week on Twitter.

“Those in the executive (branch) should help each other, and not point fingers… What our countrymen need now is a safe and effective vaccine,” Go told dzBB in Filipino.

“The solution for us to return to normal is the vaccine but the people are still afraid, like its side effects,” he said.

Go said he spoke separately with Duque, Locsin and Galvez, and urged them to work together. – Delon Porcalla, Helen Flores, Paolo Romero