The government should be more transparent in the procurement of P15 billion worth of coronavirus vaccines, Senator Francis Pangilinan said on Sunday, as he raised the disparity in prices in purchased jabs against COVID-19.
He noted that the national government has so far purchased three brands of vaccines, including Sinovac and Sputnik V, and that the P15-billion budget also includes delivery and down payment.
"You can see how Sinovac was the first to be procured and received the most payment from the government's vaccine procurement funds,"Pangilinan said over Super Radyo DZBB.
The opposition senator said the national government should disclose which brand received the huge chunk of the funds.
Earlier, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said vaccines cost around $6.75 (P323.26) to $27.59 (roughly P1,321) per dose with the exchange rate of $1 = 47.89 as of June 14,2021.
"Well, vaccine prices range from P1,000 to P700. We want to know which brand is priced the highest? We see the big disparity so we would like to know which brand got four times more the price, and why?" Pangilinan said.
But in a previous Senate hearing, Dominguez and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. reiterated that they could not disclose to the public the price of each brand due the existing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with vaccine makers.
Both officials said they were willing to reveal the figures to the senators in an executive session.
Pangilinan said he will support an executive session that would reveal more information about the vaccine prices.
Also, the legislator said there is no need to sign any "disclosure agreement" between senators and officials because there are rules already in place to protect information in the executive session from being divulged.
If the information was revealed, there would be a penalty of expulsion, Pangilinan added.
