National Policy Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Friday said “no bus was missed nor ball was dropped” in the government’s negotiations with Washington-based pharmaceutical firm Pfizer for the planned purchase of the potential coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines.

Galvez noted that the government is determined to acquire safe and effective vaccines for all Filipinos, regardless of the brand or the country of origin.

“As we take responsibility for our actions, we cannot afford to engage in finger-pointing or buck-passing at this crucial stage. These kinds of discussions are unproductive and will only distract us from carrying out our crucial mandate,” he said.

Galvez said it is the duty of the public servants to carefully study and evaluate all documents relative to the procurement and acquisition of candidate vaccines, specifically when the public’s health and safety are at stake.

“Let me reiterate, no bus was missed or no ball was dropped because we are focused on our main goal, and that is to secure an equitable share of the vaccines,” he said.

Galvez issued the statement after some officials have criticized the government over its supposed failure to secure 10 million doses of Pfizer vaccines.

He said all government negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies and their respective government embassies have gone through the scientific evaluation and selection of the country’s Vaccine Expert Panel.

“The process of selection is based on safety, efficacy, cost-effectiveness, the track record of the vaccine maker, complexity of handling and logistics, after-sales and life cycle services, production capacity and early delivery, and long-term commitment,” he said.

Vaccine roadmap on track

Under the national vaccine roadmap, Galvez said the government has created a Task Force for Adverse Effect to monitor the safe use of the vaccines.

“This is to ensure that everything that we do will redound to public health safety and the lasting benefit of the Filipino people,” he said. “This measure is part of the government’s due diligence coming from the controversies that the country has suffered from the Dengvaxia issue, which caused unnecessary fear and stigma among the public.”

Galvez assured the public that the national vaccine roadmap is on track.

“There have been maybe some delays in our negotiations but still we were able to make up,” Galvez said. “We must learn to face certain realities and that is, we are struggling to get a fair share of the vaccines in the global market given that 80 percent of the vaccines have already been procured by the manufacturers’ country of origin and countries now in the height of the second wave”.

Transparent gov’t transactions

Galvez said all government transactions are bound with transparency, a sense of fairness, and accountability.

He said the government uses multilateral arrangements with Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, and other global financing agencies as the main procurement mode to acquire Covid-19 vaccines.

“Our fund managers such as the World Bank and the ADB have laid out very stringent regulatory requirements and processes we need to follow such as WHO accreditation of the vaccines and Stringent Regulatory Authorization of foreign countries like the US, UK, Canada, or Singapore,” he added.

While the country is currently holding talks with other pharmaceutical companies, Galvez said no government official has access to the funds allotted for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.

“All deals will be made through international procurement agreements and all payments for the vaccines will be managed by our multilateral partners with the Department of Finance on the lead,” Galvez further explained. “The Department of Health leads the government’s preparation for the Agency Procurement Request (APR).”

Galvez said the government is now at the advanced stages of negotiations with various vaccine manufacturers as it makes sure that the country would get the best procurement deal as much as possible.

“My role is primarily focused on negotiating directly with the vaccine companies to make sure we get the best deal possible in terms of cost, volume, time of delivery, and supply agreement,” he said. “After the draft contract is agreed upon by parties, it will be submitted to the Department of Finance, which will scrutinize and ensure the provisions in the document are in accordance with the FDA and multilateral regulatory requirements.”

The vaccine expert panel and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are tasked to assess the safety and efficacy of potential Covid-19 vaccine, he said.

“We are also trying to get the best price possible to ensure cost-efficiency and equitable access for the poor,” he added.

Meanwhile, Galvez said the government is targeting to vaccinate around 60 to 80 million Filipinos under the PHP73 to 75 billion budget allocated by the Department of Finance (DOF).

“We are eyeing to strike a deal with vaccine manufacturers by the end of this year or early January 2021 and we are confident that given the timeline of production, initial deliveries will be made by March of next year and the inoculation program may commence within that period,” he said.

Once available, Galvez said the bulk of vaccines will be delivered in the country by tranche basis.

“We want to assure the public that the government will not compromise our vaccine selection, negotiation, and procurement process,” he said.

Galvez said no deal will be finalized without the corresponding regulatory approval from the vaccines’ country of origin and Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines.

“The ball is being passed not because there are those who are abrogating responsibility but because we want it to reach the goal — to close deals and obtain vaccines for all Filipinos so that we can implement our national vaccination program at the most appropriate time,” he said.

“These unfounded accusations and unnecessary noise that may derail us from pursuing our goal of securing safe and effective vaccines, we call on the entire Filipino people to unite and move forward. Let us focus all our energy to build back a better and stronger Philippines,” he added. (PNA)