THE House Committee on Ways and Means on Monday approved the tax provisions of a bill allowing local government units to procure Covid-19 vaccines direct from manufacturers.
House Committee on Ways and Means Committee Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda said his committee approved the tax provision of House Bill 8648 or the proposed Emergency Vaccine Procurement Act of 2021, which aims to complement the government’s strategy of procuring Covid-19 vaccines as quickly as possible.
“Although I would have preferred that we benefit from purchasing in bulk, LGUs tend to process procurement faster. Every day counts in the fight against Covid-19,” Salceda said.
The tax provision of the bill provides that “the procurement, importation, storage, transport, distribution, and administration of Covid-19 vaccines by the local government units shall be exempt from customs duties, value-added tax, excise tax, and other fees, provided, that the vaccines acquired shall only be used for their residents and constituents, and not for commercial distribution.”
“The tariff rates for vaccines is actually just 1 percent. It’s not really about the savings, although the exemption will allow them to buy slightly more vaccines. It’s the amount of processing that the local governments will save from this bill that I think is what matters more,” Salceda said.
Filed by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Minority Leader Joseph Stephen Paduano, the bill also provides exemptions to compliance by LGUs with the procurement requirements under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
Under HB 8648, the requirement of Phase IV trials for Covid-19 medication and vaccine stipulated in the Universal Health Care Law is waived to expedite the procurement of the medication and vaccine, provided that these are recommended and approved by the World Health Organization and other internationally recognized health agencies.
As an additional exemption to the guidelines of RA 9184, concerned LGUs are authorized to engage in an advance payment mechanism for purposes of procuring Covid-19 vaccines from foreign manufacturers.
The bill allows provinces, cities and municipalities to make advance payment not exceeding 50 percent of the contract amount for the procurement of Covid-19 drugs and vaccines, unless otherwise directed by the President.
Clear guidelines
Meanwhile, Salceda said the national government has to set clear guidelines as to how LGUs can procure, store, and administer vaccines in the most efficient manner possible.
“In the proper time, I might propose amendments to the bill. In particular, there has to be some way to cluster individual LGU procurements so that we can benefit from economies of scale. That will be especially useful in storage, since we can have shared storage facilities for LGUs. That’s what I am working on next: shared LGU facilities for storage,” Salceda said.
“Procurement is just half the problem. Logistics is what matters once the vaccines are here. We need to identify and fund shared cold storage facilities. We need safe and efficient transport for both the vaccines and the availers. We need to train and protect our health workers, particularly the BHWs whom I expect will be the most important link in the vaccine value chain. We need to help LGUs figure these things out,” Salceda added.
The lawmaker said the Department of Health has to be clear about vaccination guidelines, and has to help LGUs meet these standards.
“One of the problems that we saw early during the pandemic is that when some LGUs would fail to meet DOH standards, we would see them only reject the requests of LGUs. There has to be more serious effort to help LGUs meet the standards. And the standards have to be clear from the very beginning, so that we save time from useless back-and-forth,” Salceda added.
Under the bill, the deployment of vaccines in every province, city and municipality must be in accordance with the national guidelines implemented by the Department of Health and the National Task Force Against Covid-19.
Another important feature of the bill is the creation and administration of indemnification fund for the adverse events following immunization or AEFI.
Speaker Velasco said the crucial fight against Covid-19 is the vaccination process of a significant part of the population to attain herd immunity and return to normal, noting that the country could no longer absorb the economic losses of any further restriction in economic activity.