Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed that Health Secretary Francisco Duque’s failure cost the Philippines 10 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, which was supposed to be delivered by January 2021.
According to Lacson, he talked to Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez, about the matter. Romualdez arranged the meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. in which the purchase of the vaccines was discussed.
“Thus, they could have secured the delivery of 10 million Pfizer vaccines as early as January next year, way ahead of Singapore but for the indifference of Sec Duque who failed to work on the necessary documentary requirement namely, the Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement (CDA) as he should have done,” the senator said in a statement.
Lacson said Pfizer’s representative in the country was even following up on submitting such documentary requirement.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III had also assured FDA Secretary Locsin and Ambassador Romualdez that funds would be available.
“As we now know, Singapore has the vaccines, and we don’t,” Lacson said.
Lacson also said that Duque’s reaction that “negotiation with Pfizer is still ongoing after he branded as false Sec Locsin’s statement that somebody dropped the ball is true, but such negotiation, according to Ambassador Romualdez, is a renewed initiative after they missed the bus the first time.”
Lacson reveals Duque cost PH 10 million Pfizer vaccines
“There is no such thing as dropping the ball,” Duque said, responding to Locsin’s comments that “somebody dropped the ball” on Pfizer’s supposed delivery of vaccines to the Philippines by January 2021.
“Negotiations are ongoing, tuloy-tuloy po,” Duque added.
Lacson noted, “The more important question is, how many lives would be saved between January and when (if at all) the vaccines may be made available again to Filipinos.”
In April, Lacson insisted that the country will lose its battle against COVID if Health Secretary Francisco Duque III would not resign.
“Ang analogy pa nga ni Senate President, middle of the game, nagkakalat ang captain ball mo. Matatalo tayo sa virus kung ‘yung captain ball na nagdadala ng team medyo ika nga wala sa kondisyon,” he told Dobol B sa News TV.
(Senate President’s analogy is we are in the middle of a game, the captain ball cannot do his job. We will lose against the virus if the captain ball carrying the team is not conditioned.)