Sen. Imee Marcos has bemoaned the “inaction” of the National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) on requests from private companies and local government units (LGUs) to procure anti-Covid vaccines.
The senator stressed that if there were “errors” or uncomplied requirements, these should have been conveyed by vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.
This after Senate Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri initially disclosed that 300 private companies and 42 LGUs submitted their proposed multi-party or tripartite agreement to acquire 10 million vaccines, but the national government has yet to sign up, stalling the awaited vaccine delivery.
Marcos wondered why this has not been acted upon, even as she noted there was no reason for the delay as the Philippines can order the vaccine supply from other available sources that can facilitate delivery sooner.
She reminded that a vaccine czar was put in place last year precisely to fast-track acquisition of the medicine supply and ensure timely delivery for mass vaccination sooner, recalling that the vaccine supply from the United States was initially delayed due to “slow action” from the Department of Health.
According to the senator, what was worse was that the unexplained delay in signing the agreement triggered doubts that those involved may be favoring another brand of vaccine.
At the Senate hearing, Galvez, however, assured they were not sitting on the vaccine delivery documents and were just performing their duty to conduct due diligence.