MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives will be conducting its own probe into the government’s COVID-19 vaccination plan, with the chamber’s health committee scheduling a hearing on the matter next Monday.
Among the resource persons invited to the probe are Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. Both officials are overseeing the government’s vaccination program against COVID-19.
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“We would like to hear from the experts themselves to determine facts and figures from a scientific point of view,” House health committee chair Rep. Angelina Tan (Quezon) said.
The Senate Committee of the Whole had already conducted its own probe into the same issue last Monday.
There, Galvez, who is also vaccine czar, disclosed that the much-awaited vaccination drive against COVID-19 may start as early as February through the COVAX facility, a platform set up to ensure COVID-19 jabs reach those in greatest need.
But some questions still hound the government’s vaccination program. For one, the government has yet to disclose how much it is spending to procure 25 million doses of China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s vaccine.
The national government has so far secured 72 million doses of coronavirus vaccines from Sinovac, British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca, and United States biotech company Novavax. This is apart from the vaccine deals being clinched by local governments.
As it stands, the government is nearly halfway its target to procure 148 million vaccine doses within the month, which largely depends on the global supply of vaccines.
The country’s Food and Drug Administration issued Thursday an emergency use authorization for the coronavirus vaccine of US drugmaker Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech SE, which would clear its way for use by the government in its inoculation drive.
However, the Philippines has yet to secure a supply deal with Pfizer, whose vaccine also presents logistical issues as it needs to be stored at ultra-low temperatures of -80 degrees Celsius.
Galvez has said that the government is in the "advanced stages" of talks with Pfizer, US multinational firm Johnson and Johnson, British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca PLC, and Russia's Gamaleya Institute.
The Philippines has the second-worst outbreak of the coronavirus in southeast Asia, coming only next to Indonesia, with over 490,000 cases and over 9,000 deaths. — Xave Gregorio