Price of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines to be disclosed — Palace
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday vowed to disclose the price of COVID-19 vaccines purchased from Sinovac once a contract is signed as it continued to parry criticisms against its decision to buy shots from the Chinese drug maker.
Some senators have urged the administration to reconsider its decision to buy 25 million doses of Sinovac vaccine, citing reports that the jabs developed by the Chinese firm are more expensive and less effective. Officials have claimed that the Sinovac vaccines are effective and that they were offered to the Philippines at a special price because of its close ties with China. Critics, however, are not buying the government's claim and have demanded the disclosure of the cost of the China-made COVID-19 jabs.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the price of the Sinovac vaccines cannot be revealed for now because a sale contract has yet to be signed.
"What we signed is a term sheet which is an agreement to supply, and an agreement to supply which is a valid contract by itself and we cannot say yet how much," Roque said at a press briefing.
"But don't worry, once it is delivered and once the contract is signed, we have the obligation to tell you how much, For now it's more or less P650 (per dose) but it won't exceed P700 (per dose)," he added.
Data released by Sen. Sonny Angara showed that the price of Sinovac vaccine is P3,629 for two doses, more costly than those of Pfizer-BioNTech (P2,379), Gamaleya (P1,220), COVAX facility (P854), AstraZeneca (P610) and Novavax (P366). The data were submitted by the health department to the Senate finance committee during budget hearings, the senator said. Roque has disputed the data, claiming Sinovac is just "third from the most expensive out of the six brands." He has also denied that the Duterte administration is favoring Sinovac over other vaccine brands, saying it just happened that the Chinese-made jabs are the ones immediately available to the Philippines. A total of 50,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine are expected to be delivered next month.
Roque said the government is required to be strict and transparent when it comes to vaccine procurement, noting that the purchase will go through multilateral arrangements with fund managers like the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. The Palace spokesman also reiterated that the vaccines are not yet available for commercial use because only emergency use applications (EUA) have been granted to them.
"Almost all governments buy through centralized ang purchasing. Why? Because of limited supply. If you want to get supplies, you should place bulk orders, not by piece. That's why private individuals cannot buy. Why? Because it's for emergency use authorization only, not commercial distribution," Roque said.
Roque: Vaccines not like detergent soaps
Roque also took a jab at comedian and television host Vice Ganda, who criticized his remark that Filipinos should not be choosy about the brand of vaccines. The comedian recently tweeted that if people are choosy about detergent soaps, the more they should be when it comes to vaccines. Roque explained that there are limited options for vaccines because of the limited supply.
"Because of the limited supply of vaccines, we cannot choose one or two brands. You know, it is wrong to compare a vaccine with a laundry detergent. The supply (of vaccines) is not that many. We are competing for the 18 percent available supply," Roque said.
"Second, it won't be use on clothes. That's why not one, not two but three groups of experts are studying whether a vaccine is safe and effective. If we don't trust the experts who tell us that we can use it and that will serve as the basis for the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to issue an EUA, who shall we trust? Perhaps not the comedians," he added.
Roque also defended his remark that the critics of the government's plan to buy Sinovac vaccines have "colonial mentality."
"Pasensiya na po kayo, ako po ay kilala bilang isang Spokesperson na diretsong magsalita; wala po akong pakialam ‘no basta ako katotohanan lamang (Pardon me but I am known as a spokesperson who is direct to the point and who does not care as long as I tell the truth)," he said.
"The truth is, some of us, especially critics of the government, assess vaccines based on their country of origin... We should check whether they are safe and effective regardless of where they were manufactured."
The national government has so far secured two official deals for COVID-19 vaccine supplies in the Philippines, one with Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac and another with the Serum Institute of India.
Watch this space for bite-sized developments on the vaccines in the Philippines. (Main image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash)
Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire says the general population may now get their second booster jab.
"We're just waiting for the release of implementing guidelines, then we'll start rolling out our second booster for the general population," she says. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
Amid questions on vaccines being administered, the Department of Health assures the public all doses are safe and effective as the “process of extending shelf life goes through thorough stability studies.”
“The government ensures that every vaccine that is injected with an extended shelf life has gone through studies, and is still safe and effective against COVID-19,” it adds.
Government must increase vaccination capacity across the Philippines in anticipation of a surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant of the corona virus, Sen. Risa Hontiveros says.
She says local government units and the private sector can work together to put up more vaccination centers and deploy more vaccination teams to get more people inoculated against COVID-19.
"The active COVID cases have nearly doubled in three days. The positivity rate is almost four times the ceiling set by the World Health Organization. Huwag na nating hintayin na sobrang lumala pa ang sitwasyon bago tayo gumawa ng paraan para mapabilis ang ating pagbabakuna."
FDA chief Eric Domingo says that its agency has given emergency approval for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.
The United States immunized around 900,000 children aged five-to-11 against Covid in the first week the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for them, a White House official says Wednesday.
Roughly 700,000 more have made appointments at pharmacies, White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients tells reporters.
"The program is just getting up to full strength," he says, adding most of the shots were given in the last couple of days alone. — AFP
- Latest
- Trending
