Duterte chooses Gálvez as vaccine czar

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte appointed the secretary of the peace process, Carlito Gálvez Jr., to lead the importation and distribution of a future vaccine against the new coronavirus, Malacañang said on Monday.

Duterte in a televised address said he received reports that some people were already “negotiating” for the vaccine.

The president said he wanted “only one line of authority to come” and delegated the “negotiation, manufacture, production or distribution” of the vaccine to Gálvez, who is also the main executor of the National Task Force against COVID-19.

“Isa lang. Ayaw ko ‘yang committee-committee. Matagal’ yan. I have a lot of faith in Charlie to actually present the solutions to the problem,” Duterte said, referring to Galvez by the latter’s nickname.

(Just one. I don’t want a committee. That will take a long time).

When asked to confirm whether Gálvez will be the country’s vaccine czar, Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque replied in the affirmative.

Roque previously said that Duterte had called in a vaccine czar about two months ago, but the official declined to be named and wanted to “wait for the president to make the announcement again.”

Duterte’s spokesman said that while authorities have secured funding for the COVID-19 vaccine, its import and storage setup remains a “challenge.”

The potential coronavirus vaccine should be kept in a cold storage facility, where it would freeze at around -90 degrees Celsius. The Philippines has only one such facility at the Tropical Medicine Research Institute in Muntinlupa, Roque said.