[ad_1]
MANILA, Philippines – While Senate and House leaders agreed on Wednesday to allocate P72.5 billion for the purchase of coronavirus vaccines in the 2021 budget, only P2.5 billion could be funded immediately, as the most of it was deposited in reserve funds that are highly dependent on foreign funds. loans.
The allocation may also not be enough to inoculate even half of the 70 million Filipinos needed for “herd immunity,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, referring to the level of protection against disease a population enjoys. once enough people have been vaccinated.
60 million doses
The P72.5 billion allocation can purchase more than 60 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine based on the Department of Finance (DOF) cost estimate of $ 25, or P1,200, per full dose.
Last month, Finance Secretary Carlos Domínguez III granted a lower threshold of 60 million Filipinos who should receive injections to achieve herd immunity using the planned COVID-19 vaccine fund of P73.2 billion, or a little more than what Congress ended up approving.
But Recto pointed out that every citizen would need at least two doses to be fully vaccinated, as recent successful trials by various pharmaceutical companies had shown.
“Unfortunately, the amount may not be enough to inoculate at least 70 percent of our population,” he told the Inquirer.
Plus, he said, there were other costs.
Logistics strategy
The government will “have to pay upfront and queue for delivery,” as well as “begin investing in a logistical strategy to deliver vaccines nationwide to at least 70 million Filipinos,” requiring even more money, he said. Straight.
As the bicameral talks on the 2021 general appropriations bill concluded, Senate and House leaders agreed to place 70 billion pesos of the COVID-19 vaccine budget in unscheduled appropriations, according to Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, president of the Senate finance panel.
Unlike ordinary budget items with defined financing, unscheduled appropriations can only be financed depending on the availability of surplus tax collections or new sources of income, or by borrowing from other countries or multilateral agencies.
Angara said a separate item of P2.5 billion was included in the regular budget of the Department of Health (DOH) for its program on the vaccine that is still largely unavailable, bringing the total to P72.5 thousand. millions.
The allocation is P10.5 billion less than the Senate version, which previously proposed P83 billion for the same purpose, consisting of P8 billion in scheduled allocations under the DOH vaccine program, P54 billion for purchase of medicine and P21 billion for storage, transportation and distribution.
Bayanihan Extension
But Angara said another P10 billion should be available for COVID-19 vaccines under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2, assuming that Congress could pass a law extending its validity until June 2021.
Enacted in September, Bayanihan 2 set aside P140 billion in regular funding for various programs to stimulate the struggling economy, plus P25.5 billion as a reserve fund, including P10 billion for COVID-19 tests and vaccines.
That, according to Angara, leaves a total of P82.5 billion for the COVID-19 vaccine program once the GAB becomes law.
The Senate and House of Representatives were expected to ratify the P4.5 trillion budget measure on Wednesday, giving the president enough time to sign it into law before the end of 2020 and avoid a re-enactment of the budget.
‘Non-scheduled’
Confronting reporters after the bicameral budget conference, Angara expressed optimism that the entire P72.5 billion budget for COVID-19 vaccines would be “fully used up” in 2021 despite much of it being unscheduled. .
“Others may think that just because it is not scheduled, it will no longer be funded, but that is not true,” he said. “The probability that it will be financed is great. He assured us [DOF] that will actually be financed. “
Pressed to explain, the senator only said that economic managers were betting on “non-tax revenue.”
“That is the reason why there is a high probability of receiving funding,” Angara said.
When asked how Congress could guarantee the availability of funds for the unscheduled allocation, he responded: “If you are talking about cash availability, that is not for the legislature. [to answer]. That’s for the executive to answer. We don’t collect money. ”
Recto also found “nothing wrong” in using unscheduled funds “knowing that we will borrow the money.”
3 possible sources of funds
Domínguez had identified three likely sources for the government-planned COVID-19 vaccine fund in the amount of P73.2 billion.
The first is P40 billion in “low-cost long-term loans” from multilateral institutions like the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.
Some 20 billion pesetas can be obtained from national government financial institutions, such as the Land Bank of the Philippines, the Development Bank of the Philippines, and government-owned and controlled companies.
The last is P13.2 billion to be obtained from “bilateral negotiations” with countries where the vaccines would originate, such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
“Most of it is already arranged,” Domínguez said. But he acknowledged that the P13.2 billion “are not yet fully negotiated.”
For more news on the new coronavirus, click here.
What you need to know about the coronavirus.
For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
The Inquirer Foundation supports our leaders in healthcare and still accepts cash donations to be deposited into the Banco de Oro (BDO) checking account # 007960018860 or donate through PayMaya using this link .
Read next
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer and more than 70 other titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download from 4am and share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
[ad_2]
