Senate Blue Ribbon Committee questions Galvez, Vergeire on COVID vaccines purchases

RETIRED ARMY General and National Task Force (NTF) on COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. was questioned by Senator Jinggoy Estrada during a recent Blue Ribbon Committee inquiry on the non-disclosure or refusal of the Department of Health (DOH) to release the details of the vaccine procurement contracts on the pretext of a supposedly existing Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

Estrada asked Galvez to relate the difficulties his team encountered in procuring the vaccines at the height of the pandemic during the previous Duterte administration. 

According to Galvez, the NTF had difficulty negotiating with all of the manufacturers because of their requirements. He said the government did not sign contracts with three manufacturers because the country’s national interest and Constitutional rights might be violated. 

“What are the terms they demanded that you didn’t want and who are these manufacturers?” Estrada asked. 

Galvez said the terms were on liability, indemnity and disclosure. He named the manufacturers AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Jansen (Johnson and Johnson) and Novavax Manufacturing. 

Senator Francis Tolentino also asked the DOH to utilize the remaining government-procured COVID-19 vaccines for the second booster shot of the general population. 

Tolentino, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, made the remarks during the inquiry. 

“Bakit po hindi tayo mag pa-second booster para yung nasasayang e hindi talaga masayang--kasi yung nagpabakuna na nagpa first booster, palagay ko yung iba doon gusto magka-second booster. Iyon yung hinihingi ng private sector noon, payagan na sila mag pa second booster para hindi na mag expire yung iba, magamit," Tolentino told DOH officer-in-charge Usec. Maria Rosario Vergeire. 

“Bakit po yung ibang bansa nag se-second booster na? Tayo ay hindi nag se-second booster... naniniwala po ako, mababawasan yung masasayang kasi yung nag pa-first booster ay willing po mag pa second booster lalong lalo na yung lumalabas ngayong Simbang Gabi, lalabas ang mag festivals,” he added.

Tolentino cited a recent rationale for a second booster from the World Health Organization (WHO), in which its systematic review and meta-regression would make the second booster dose increase the VE against all outcomes.

“The rationale for a second booster is to restore impossibly enhanced protection... I have here the WHO statement na pwede mag second booster para mabawasan po yung wastage natin Dr. Vergeire?” Tolentino stressed. 

Vergeire in response to Tolentino's query said that the DOH is still maintaining its recent stand that more evidence is needed before finally recommending the implementation of the second booster to the rest of the population. She vowed to submit the requested documents to the Commission on Audit (COA). (Voltaire Domingo, Mindanao Examiner)