President Rodrigo Roa Duterte talks to the people after holding a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang on September 28, 2020. RICHARD MADELO/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said Covid-19 vaccines were going to the highest-bidding countries, leaving poor countries like the Philippines behind in the worldwide vaccination race.
“Alam mo ho itong problema talaga ng Covid hindi ganoon kadali. For one, ang greatest disadvantage natin is hindi tayo mayaman at ito labanan ito ngayon sa highest bidder nga,” the president rued in a televised address.
“Kung sino ‘yung makabayad ng una, mag-deposito na, tapos lalo na kung ‘yung bansa na ‘yon ang humihingi ng supply ng vaccine is the country where the factory is located — tawagin natin factory — nandiyan, nauuna talaga sa kanila,” he added.
Duterte also claimed that AstraZeneca vaccines were being “held hostage” by the European Union.
“Huwag naman masyado ninyong idiin ‘yang bayan ninyo na talagang pobre na ganoon kung ganoon. Nabubuhay pa naman tayo. Let us just hope for the best. The problem is ‘yung bakuna. For all of the brouhaha, ‘O mayroon kami dito nakita, mayroon kami…’ Saan? Eh ‘yung AstraZeneca hinostage ng European Union,” he said.
Nevertheless, Duterte said the country had enough funding sources to purchase vaccines, courtesy of multilateral deals with the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.
“‘Yung pera na ibayad natin hindi hawak ni Galvez, hindi hawak ng mga tao na inuutusan niyang gumawa ng formula na ‘yan kung paano tayo makakuha. Ang may hawak ng pera ho ang bangko,” he said.
In the same meeting, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the government, along with the private sector, were negotiating with vaccine manufacturers for 178 million vaccine doses good for 92 million people.
“We have negotiated for 92 million kasi ho nai-experience na nababasa natin sa diyaryo eh may mga slippage — mga delays sa delivery. There’s delays in Europe, there’s delay in the US. So to be safe, we have — we are negotiating more — more than what we need of 70 million,” he said.
The country has P73.2 billion allocated for Covid-19 vaccines. John Ezekiel J. Hirro