MANILA – There will be no politics in the distribution of coronavirus vaccine under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration once it becomes available, his spokesperson Harry Roque said.
Roque made the assurance after country’s vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the vaccine will be realistically available by late 2021 or early 2022, the year of the national election.
“Wala pong politika diyan. Kung may politika diyan, gagawin ni Presidente iyong ginawa ng naunang administrasyon na iyong mga kalaban hindi bibigyan,” Roque said in a virtual presser on Thursday.
“Malinaw po ang Presidente, lahat ng mahihirap ay bibigyan ng prayoridad, lahat ng kapulisan, kasundaluhan, frontliners at mga vulnerable.” he added: “Kung gagawin pong pulitika ito, maaaalala niyo iyong ginagawa ng huling administrasyon. Pero hindi po ganyan ang Presidente.”
Meanwhile, Galvez said the Philippines would sign a tripartite deal with British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca for the initial doses of the vaccine.
“This coming Friday, pipirma po tayo ng tripartite agreement kung saan tayo po ay makakabili ng dalawang milyong doses ng bakuna mula sa AstraZeneca ng United Kingdom,” Galvez said during Malacanang’s briefing on Thursday.
“The initial deal is brokered with the help of the private sector. Malaki po ang naitulong dati ng private sector in ramping up testing facilities. They also have hospital facilities they can lend, this will improve our fight versus the pandemic,” he added.
AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford on Monday announced that their inexpensive, easy-to-produce coronavirus vaccine was either 62 percent or 90 percent effective, depending on the manner in which the doses were given.
The task force is looking to administer vaccines to at least 60 million Filipinos to achieve herd immunity, where virus transmissions will be limited./PN
