ILOILO City – The provincial governors of Western Visayas can choose which specific brand of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines they want to buy to get their constituents immunized against the viral disease.
“Ang mga governors sang Western Visayas nag-agree tanan nga mabakal sila sang vaccine,” said Mayor Jerry Treñas, also the chairman of the League of Cities of the Philippines’ committee for vaccine procurement.
Almost all of the local government units (LGUs) in the region have allocated funds to secure COVID-19 vaccines.
According to Treñas, they are free to choose any vaccine brand and that the national government will not interfere. He cited yesterday’s virtual meeting with governors and the country’s vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.
“Nagpasalig man si Secretary Galvez nga kon ano nga vaccine ang baklon sang mga gobernador para sa ila pumoluyo, pangitaan sang paagi nga mahatagan sila sang amo na nga vaccine,” Treñas said.
At the meeting at Treñas’ office were governors Arthur Defensor Jr. of Iloilo, Samuel Gumarin of Guimaras, Rhodora Cadiao of Antique, Esteban Evan Contreras of Capiz, Florencio Miraflores of Aklan, Eugenio Jose Lacson of Negros Occidental and his economic adviser former Negros Occidental congressman Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, former Guimaras congressman JC Rahman Nava, and former Bacolod City congressman John Orola representing Mayor Evelio Leonardia of Bacolod City.
During the meeting, representatives of pharmaceutical company Novavax presented to the officials its vaccine and proposed procurement deal.
There was no signing of tripartite agreement yet as reported earlier.
“Mapadala sila (Novavax) sang ila mga papeles like ang non-disclosure agreement sa mga goberbador so they can start negotiations,” said Treñas.
He added the price of the vaccine was not discussed as it would be covered by the non-disclosure agreement.
Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, is the manufacturer of Novavax.
The Novavax vaccine is in late-stage human trials in the United States, Mexico and Britain and is expected to be approved for use by international regulators.
So far, only four LGUs in Western Visayas – the highly-urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod and provinces of Negros Occidental and Iloilo – have secured supplies of vaccines from British vaccine maker AstraZeneca through tripartite agreements.
Some LGUs, meanwhile, earmarked varying amount of funds to procure vaccines – Antique, P10 million; Roxas City, P60 million; Guimaras, P50 million.
While the deals assure LGUs access to limited global supply, the vaccines still need to secure emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before any public rollout can begin.
The FDA is currently reviewing applications for emergency use of Pfizer and AstraZeneca’s vaccines.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) earlier advised LGUs to purchase COVID-19 vaccines that would cover 50 percent of its population and let the national government supply the rest.
DILG undersecretary Epimaco Densing III explained that they put a 50-percent cap on procurement of vaccines to “reallocate sources for other anti-Covid activities rather than limiting itself for the vaccines.”/PN
