Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said on Monday that the government needs a minimum budget of P30 billion to implement COVID-19 immunization in 2021.
“We need P30 billion to inoculate 30 million Filipinos from July 1 to December 31, 2021, and the other 30 million in 2022 to achieve the so-called herd immunity,” Drilon said in an interview on ANC, adding he believed vaccination against the new coronavirus would only begin by the second half of 2021.
The Senate Committee on Finance’s budget allocated P18 billion for COVID-19 vaccines, but only P8 billion are under regular funds.
The rest of the budget is under unprogrammed appropriations, meaning it could only be accessed if there is an excess on the government’s revenue target.
To get the P30 billion COVID-19 immunization budget next year, Drilon urged realigning the P16.4 billion anti-insurgency fund and a portion of the government’s proposed P9.5 billion confidential and intelligence funds.
Further, the senator said he is not satisfied with the proposed 2021 calamity fund of P16 billion.
Gov’t needs at least P30B for COVID-19 immunization in 2021 – Drilon
“The P16 billion that is in the budget for Calamity Fund is totally inadequate,” he said, pointing out that the damage caused by the recent three typhoons is estimated at P34 billion.
Last week, Senator Pia Cayetano said that the storage and distribution cost of COVID-19 vaccines were not included in the proposed P212.7-billion budget for 2021.
During the budget deliberations, Cayetano said the DOH is fine with is COVID-19 response budget. Still, the department did not allocate funds for other expenses such as transportation, storage, vaccination training, and other incidental expenses.
However, the Department of Finance (DOF) had confirmed that there were loan options available, Cayetano added.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Friday said the government eyes to initially give COVID-19 immunization to around 50% to 60% of the Philippine population.
“We initially costed for 20 million, which is 20% of our population, but when we were discussing it with our vaccine czar, Secretary [Carlito] Galvez, Jr., we decided we would want to have an expanded coverage where 50 to 60% of the population can be vaccinated,” Vergeire said in an ANC interview.