Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson yesterday questioned the different figures dished out by the government when updating the public about its procurement of vaccines against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Lacson noted data from the Senate’s Wednesday night deliberations on the proposed 2022 budget of the Department of Health (DOH).
One document showed the government has bought 121,132,930 doses of different brands of anti-COVID-19 vaccines priced at P62.632 billion as of Sept. 5.
Another submission indicated that 121,130,000 doses have been bought for a total price of P66.107 billion as of Nov. 7.
Lacson said the DOH submitted figures were confusing since the amount went higher by at least P3.4 billion in the second document which showed lesser vaccine doses purchased.
He rejected as unacceptable the explanation offered by the health department that the difference in pricing was because of the unstable dollar-peso exchange rate, pointing out that the exchange rate remains at P50 to $1.
Asked to explain further, the DOH told senators it will just defer to the Department of Finance which was in-charge of paying for the purchases.
“Malaki ang diperensiya sa cost, P3.4 billion ang naging diperensiya … Pero still we cannot leave it at that. Kasi ang tatlong bilyon ay tatlong bilyon (There is a big difference in the cost, it was a difference of P3.4 billion. We cannot leave it at that. Three billion [pesos] is three billion [pesos]),” the senator said.
Aside from explaining the discrepancy, Lacson said the DOH should likewise explain it is asking for additional funds of P117 million for vaccine procurement when the government has already purchased 197 million doses, which he said is more than enough to achieve herd immunity.
Lacson clarified he is not against the purchase of additional vaccines especially now that the country is preparing for booster shots and the inoculation of minors, but he wants to make sure that the vaccines will not go to waste.
He said the country has around 68.2 million adult Filipinos which represents 62 percent of the total population of more than 110 million. Seventy percent of the 68.2 million adult Filipinos would only be at around 47 million.
“So, parang sobra-sobra yung bakuna… Pag nag expire, sayang ‘yun, itatapon natin eh utang na nga ‘yung pinambili (We have more than enough vaccines. If the vaccines expire, we will just throw them away. It will be a waste of money considering that we borrowed money to buy them),” he added.
Lacson said the government should also adapt to the preferred vaccine brand of Filipinos to boost vaccination confidence.
“Alam natin na mataas ang hesitancy pagdating sa isang particular na brand ng bakuna.
Bakit natin pinipili pa ring mag-angkat ng ganoong karaming brand ng bakuna? Hindi ba dapat mag adapt tayo sa situation? (We know that there is high hesitancy when it comes to a particular vaccine brand. Why do we have to choose to import more of it? Shouldn’t we adapt to the situation?” he asked.
