Lacson finds out how Duque ‘dropped the ball’ in Pfizer deal

Only one document that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III failed to present caused the Philippines to miss the opportunity to acquire 10 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in early January, an opportunity that eventually went to Singapore.

Senator Panfilo Lacson made the disclosure Wednesday night when he pointed to the head of the Department of Health (DOH) as the one who “dropped the ball” by failing to present a confidentiality agreement that would have allowed the transaction to proceed.

That ultimately lost the Philippines precious time in curbing the pandemic, as richer countries had begun to corner the global supply of the vaccine, Lacson told the Inquirer, citing information relayed to him by the Philippine ambassador to the United States, José Manuel “Babe” Romualdez in a phone call Wednesday morning.

Lacson said Romualdez gave him the “imprimatur” to share the information with the public.

Duque’s ‘indifference’

He said Duque’s “indifference” was to blame for not working on the necessary documentation for the deal, which began five months ago.

“The negotiation between the Secretary of State of the United States, Mike Pompeo and [Foreign Secretary] Teodoro Locsin Jr. as provided by [Romualdez] it started as early as July, ”Lacson said in a series of Viber messages.

“Therefore, they could have secured the delivery of 10 million Pfizer vaccines starting in January next year, well ahead of Singapore, had it not been for the indifference of Secretary Duque, who did not comply with the necessary documentary requirement, is say, the confidentiality disclosure agreement (CDA) as it should have, ”Lacson said.

Domínguez Assurance

He said Romualdez told him that Pfizer’s country representative “was even following up on the presentation of [the] documentary requirement “.

Not only that, the finance secretary, Carlos Domínguez III, had also assured Romualdez and Locsin that “the money would be available,” Lacson said.

“As we know now, Singapore has the vaccines and we don’t,” he said.

Lacson said Duque’s statement that the negotiations with Pfizer were ongoing was technically correct, but it was not the whole truth.

“[But the] The negotiation, according to Ambassador Romualdez, is a renewed initiative after they missed the bus the first time, ”he said.

“The most important question is how many lives would be saved between January and when [if at all] vaccines may again be available to Filipinos, ”Lacson said.

Duque’s denial

In a media forum early Wednesday, Duque denied any negligence on the part of the DOH.

“First of all, there is no such thing as dropping the ball. If you look at the statement, negotiations are ongoing, ”he said.

“I just want to make sure that the provisions [of the CDA] they are not weak or disadvantageous for the government, ”Duque said.

Duque explained that it was only on September 24 that DOH was informed that instead of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), DOH would be the agency that would sign the agreement with Pfizer.

The order, he said, came from the Office of the Executive Secretary.

To make sure the government didn’t enter into an onerous or disadvantageous deal, Duque said he had to have attorneys for the DOH, DOST and the Bureau review the CDA.

of the Executive Secretary. He pointed out that by October 20 he had already signed the document.

Real reason

When asked if he thought Duque was being negligent or willful, Lacson said: “I would say that only he knows the real reason for not meeting such a simple documentary requirement.”

In a series of tweets Tuesday, Locsin said he and Romualdez had arranged the delivery of the vaccine with Pompeo’s help, and that the purchase would be financed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

“With that said, my thanks anyway to… Pompeo. We Babe Romualdez and I got 10 million doses from Pfizer funded by the World Bank and ADB to be shipped via FedEx to Clark (airport) in January, ”Locsin tweeted.

“BUT SOMEONE DROPPED THE BALL. I have steel ball bearings. I just need a slingshot, ”he added.

Without a vaccine, coronavirus infections in the Philippines continue to rise, with 1,156 new cases reported on Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 452,988.

Davao City reported the highest number of new infections, 126, followed by Quezon City (66), Rizal (64), Bulacan (56), and Manila (38).

The DOH reported that 425 more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 419,282. The death toll rose to 8,833 when 21 more patients succumbed to the severe respiratory illness.

Recoveries and deaths left the country with 24,873 active cases, of which 84.7 percent were mild, 6.7 percent asymptomatic, 0.3 percent moderate, 2.8 percent severe, and 5.6 percent critical. .

To date, the Philippines has obtained only 2.6 million doses of AstraZeneca.

Although Duterte has shown a preference in the past for the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V, it is unclear whether the Philippines will get supplies or whether it has secured a deal for initial distribution scheduled for the first quarter of 2021. —WITH A REPORT FROM JOVIC YEE

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