DOH willing to give info on COVID procurement

ZAMBOANGA CITY - The Department of Health (DOH) said it is committed to uphold accountability and transparency in the COVID-19 vaccine procurement after lawmakers told the agency to waive the existing non-disclosure agreements (NDA) on the medicines so that the Commission on Audit could begin its scrutiny.

During the initial public hearing held by the Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations (Blue Ribbon Committee), DOH Officer-In-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire emphasized that the COVID-19 vaccine procurement portfolio is extensive, requiring a broad range of highly-specialized skills exclusively carried by specific government agencies.

She said they are always willing to provide the needed information on vaccine procurement, in response to issues surrounding its alleged refusal to provide the information to Congress and the Commission on Audit (COA) due to the NDA.

Vergeire said the DOH has, in fact, been very proactive in requesting for the conduct of a special audit for the COVID-19 vaccine procurements, as evidenced by official DOH correspondences to COA as early as 2021.

Despite the NDAs posing a potential hurdle to full disclosure, Vergeire said the DOH and NTF will comply with all COA audit requirements, adding, the DOH explained that disclosing information covered by the confidentiality agreements without explicit consent from the manufacturers has legal as well as public health repercussions.

Such disclosure, she said, may result in manufacturers’ loss of confidence, which may, in turn, harm the country’s future prospects to be prioritized or even to secure life-saving vaccines and other products for Filipinos.

“As such, the DOH, as early as 2021, has coordinated with vaccine manufacturers to secure their consent to disclose information and enable procurement audits free from legal liability. Of the manufacturers engaged by the GOP, AstraZeneca and Pfizer have given their consent for DOH to disclose information under specific terms,” Vergeire said.

Waive the NDA

Senator Risa Hontiveros has repeatedly called on the DOH to waive the NDA in the name of transparency, saying the NDAs with private manufacturers have outlived their purpose.  “At this point, COVID vaccine NDAs are useless and have outlived their purpose dahil tapos na ang isyu ng price competition. It is now simply a violation of the public's right to know how our money was spent. NDAs should no longer stand in the way of accountability and transparency," she said.

The senator said the fact that the DOH submission of documents only covered the loan agreements with Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, and those with limited permissions from select vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

“What about the agreements with other vaccine manufacturers, like Sinovac? Bulto bultong bakuna pa naman mula sa Sinovac ang binili ng nakaraang administrasyon para sa national vaccination program. Paano magsasagawa ng complete audit ang COA kung patuloy na magtatago ang mga kompanya sa likod ng NDA clause ng kontrata? If we allow this to happen now, it is precedent-setting. Baka sa susunod na pandemya mauulit na naman ito, at posibleng maabuso,” she said.

Hontiveros also said that this non-compliance of foreign vaccine manufacturers with the country's government processes is alarming.

“There is too much unnecessary secrecy surrounding this. Hindi naman dapat ituring na state secret ang presyo ng bakuna dahil pera ng bayan ang ginamit para ipambili nito. Pinipilay lang ng mga NDA na ito ang mandato ng COA na usisain kung nakasulit ba tayo sa bilyun-bilyong pisong inilabas natin noong panahon ng pandemya,” Hontiveros said.

Wastage

Hontiveros said that after some 44 million vaccine wastage, it is high time the real cost is disclosed to the public. “Pwede bang i-undermine ng pribadong sektor ang ating konstitusyon dahil lang mayroon silang NDA sa government contracts? Of course not. Panahon na para makipagtulungan ang mga vaccine manufacturers sa audit ng COA,” she said.

“I stand by my call to completely release all information with regards to the COVID-19 vaccine procurement to the public. I have been saying this for over a year. There is no reason for this to be done behind closed doors. We deserve to know how every centavo was spent, lalo na ngayong panahon ng resesyon. Managot ang dapat managot, at huwag magtago sa likod ng NDA,” she added.

Vergeire reiterated their commitment to ensure that vaccine wastage is minimized and taxpayer money is well-spent and accounted for following recent reports that millions of doses of vaccine stocks have expired.

She said while the DOH noted that vaccine wastage is inevitable, the DOH continues to implement strategies to reduce the occurrence of wastage by employing effective supply chain management and boosting vaccination rates amid low vaccine uptake. (Mindanao Examiner)