‘Private sector had no control over vaccines’
THE private sector had no control over coronavirus jabs donated to the government, Go Negosyo founder Jose Maria “Joey” Concepcion 3rd asserted on Tuesday.
He issued the statement following reports claiming that 70 percent of the 31.3 million doses of Covid-19 jabs were from the private sector.
According to him, 23,516,990 vaccine doses were procured by the private sector through a tripartite agreement with the government and the vaccine manufacturers. Of the said number, 9,398,230 doses have expired, including doses it donated to local governments.
The inventory, however, does not include other private sector initiatives, but Concepcion pointed out that these, too, would be under the custody of the government.
The private sector has noted that there have been gaps in the government’s monitoring and reporting of the inventory, especially of the vaccines that it donated as part of the tripartite agreement.
Due to the Covid-19 jabs still under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), only the government can initiate purchase and administration, including assessing how many more it needed to buy and add to the private sector donations.
The government also monitors if the total inventory is nearing its expiry dates, so that they can use these first before procuring more.
“The private sector has always been proactive in pushing for vaccinations,” said Concepcion.
“In fact, we were the ones asking the HTAC (Health Technology Assessment Council) to adopt the US FDA guidelines just so we can speed up the booster vaccinations,” stated the former presidential adviser for entrepreneurship.
“There are clearly several gaps that led to the expiry of the vaccines. Some of those gaps we tried to point out, such as the need to listen to the science coming from abroad, and to act swiftly considering that our economy is on the line. We need to learn from this experience and lay down clear guidelines for vaccination,” he added.
Among the factors cited by the government as contributing to the wastage of the vaccines were short shelf life and temperature excursion.
Other factors also figured in restricting the use of the vaccines, such as the delays in handing down guidelines for administering the vaccines.
Millions of Covid-19 vaccines worth billions of pesos expired last July, just days after second boosters were allowed for adults 50 years and older, and those 18 to 49 years with comorbidities.
Concepcion reiterated his suggestion that pre-registering vaccinees will be the way to go in future vaccination efforts.
He has offered to provide the Department of Health (DoH) with a list of employees from the private sector who are willing to be vaccinated.
The strategy is meant to ensure that the vaccines to be procured by the government will be used.
LGUs, he said, can also adopt the scheme.
He also proposed that the government allow private hospitals and other health care facilities to procure the vaccines, which they can then pass on at cost to those who are eligible.
Vaccines against Covid-19 have yet to become commercially available unless drug manufacturers secure a Certificate of Product Registration for their vaccines.
Tedious
However, the Department of Health is cool with the suggestion of Concepcion to preregister those who are willing to get their bivalent vaccine so as to prevent wastage.
In a media briefing on Tuesday in Quezon City, Health Officer in Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that while they respect Concepcion’s suggestions on improving the vaccine coverage in the country, the preregistration of persons before the procurement of vaccines would be a “tedious” effort.
“We are removing the option for those who have decided to walk in to get vaccinated,” Vergeire added.
She said that instead of a preregistration, the DoH conducted a survey, which they used as a basis for how many doses the government can procure.
According to the survey, 90 to 95 percent of those who received the first and second boosters and 68 percent of those who received the first two doses or the primary series are willing to get the bivalent vaccine.
“This is the basis on how many we will buy for the initial tranche,” Vergeire said.
However, she said that they will be guided by the recommendations of the Food and Drug Administration and the Health Technology Assessment Council on the administration of the bivalent vaccines.
FDA Director-General Samuel Zacate confirmed to The Manila Times that the application of Moderna’s bivalent vaccine is being studied by its pool of experts.