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Video courtesy of Kapihan sa Manila Bay
MANILA – Health Secretary Francisco Duque III defended himself again on Wednesday amid accusations that he had “dropped the ball” to ensure the immediate supply of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to the country, saying the department The health department followed the proper protocol when negotiating with the drug manufacturer.
“What we did was right,” he said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay virtual forum.
Duque noted that the Health Department did not even receive any formal notice that the United States would prioritize the Philippines once the use of the Pfizer vaccine is approved.
“Sa totoo lang wala kaming natanggap na sulat sa kanila (actually, we didn’t receive any letters from them),” he said. “Not even the IATF (Interagency Task Force on Response to COVID-19) received any communications officers from these individuals who have mentioned this failed deal. There’s no such thing.”
Duque explained that they are still in the study stage of the data confidentiality agreement with Pfizer, which will allow the government to verify the results of their previous studies.
“There was no fall of the ball. What we did here with due diligence, ”he added. “If there are provisions that we think are onerous or disadvantageous for the government, we cannot sign them. That would be irresponsible and reckless, especially here we are talking about billions of pesos in vaccines ”.
(The ball didn’t drop. What we’re doing here is due diligence … If there were provisions there that are onerous or disadvantageous to the government, then we can’t sign that. It would be irresponsible and reckless, especially we’re talking about billions pesos in vaccinations here.)
“We have learned very costly lessons in the past from certain immunization experiences. And we don’t want that to happen again, ”he said.
Duque said that acquiring vaccines is not as easy as, for example, buying chocolates, due to specific storage requirements.
He said the country does not yet have an ultra-low temperature storage facility, which is required by Pfizer vaccines. Duque said this is due to the new technology used by the company to produce a vaccine.
“The problem is if people talk and yet they don’t have the competence to understand the complexities of vaccine selection, scientific evaluation, procurement, distribution, production, storage, logistical requirements, program of actual immunization. These are all imperatives of our vaccine roadmap and you need to understand the process, ”he said.
Duque simply said that he would rather focus on work, when asked what his working relationship was like with Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., who first discovered that an official had “dropped the ball” in dealing with the vaccine.
“We have too much on our plate. We can’t waste time arguing, ”he said.
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COVID-19 Vaccine, Pfizer Health Department, Francisco Duque III, Teodoro Locsin Jr.
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