MANILA – Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. apologized for the delay in the arrival of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in the country.
“Pasensya na po talaga na talagang hindi po natin kasi hawak iyong ating supply chain,” said Galvez. “Minsan, ako po’y nahihiya dahil sabi nga, bakuna na lang ang kulang.”
“Sana po maintindihan n’yo po ang kalagayan ng gobyerno. Kami po talaga, ginagawa po namin ang aming magagawa, lalo na sa FDA (Food and Drug Administration), na sana iyong aming, iyong ating vaccine na dadalhin dito ay very safe and effective,” added Galvez, who is also the chief implementer of National Task Force against COVID-19 said.
Around 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech shots allocated to the Philippines through the vaccine sharing platform COVAX Facility, were supposed to arrive in the country last week. The arrival was delayed due to absence of an indemnification agreement.
A separate shipment of 600,000 doses from China’s Sinovac Biotech will arrive on Feb. 23 but the absence of an emergency use authorization from the FDA might hamper the arrival of the shipment.
“Bilang the leading person to procure, manage, and get the best vaccine for all of us, nakita natin na talagang medyo nahuli tayo nang kaunti,” Galvez said.
“Sa awa po ng Diyos, siguro po tingnan po natin, baka po meron ding umabot na vaccine this coming February and majority of our vaccine, baka magdating po ng March,” he added.
In Southeast Asia, the Philippines holds the second highest number of COVID-19 infections and deaths, at 555,163 and 11,673, respectively.
Further delays in the arrival of vaccines may cause disruption in the country’s economic recovery./PN
