Speaker Lord Allan Velasco has filed a bill to expedite the purchase and administration of COVID-19 vaccines by giving local government units (LGUs) the authority to directly purchase the life-saving shots from manufacturers without having to go through public bidding.
Velasco’s House Bill 8648, or the proposed Emergency Vaccine Procurement Act of 2021, received bipartisan support as Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Minority Leader Joseph Stephen Paduano signed co-authors of the measure.
The bill provides exemptions LGUs from complying with the Government Procurement Reform Act in the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines and other much-needed supplies during the pandemic.
Velasco said this would ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are “procured and administered in an expeditious, effective, efficient and equitable manner.”
Velasco said the LGUs play an important role in ensuring “people are protected, lives are saved, economic losses are stemmed and mitigated, and public trust and confidence in our institutions is restored.”
Under HB 8648, the requirement of Phase IV trials for COVID-19 medication and vaccine stipulated in the Universal Health Care Law is waived to expedite their procurement, provided these are recommended and approved by the World Health Organization and other internationally recognized health agencies.
As an additional exemption to the guidelines of RA 9184, concerned LGUs are authorized to engage in an advance payment mechanism for purposes of procuring COVID19 vaccines from foreign manufacturers.
The bill allows provinces, cities and municipalities to make advance payments not exceeding 50 percent of the contract amount for the procurement of COVID-19 drugs and vaccines, unless otherwise directed by the President.
Romualdez on Wednesday appealed to his colleagues to support the bill.
“The Speaker’s bill seeking to speed up the procurement process and implementation of COVID-19 vaccines deserves the support of the entire House membership,” Romualdez said.
The Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday it aims to complete its COVID-19 vaccination program by 2023 amid global competition for vaccines.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the government had until 2023 to inoculate its targeted population in case vaccine deliveries are delayed.
“That’s why we indicated in our plan for this vaccine deployment program that it’s going to be until 2023 so that we have that wide margin if in case the delivery will not be on time,” she said in an interview on ANC.
But Vice President Leni Robredo said this was not good enough. “It is alarming that as of now, there are too many Filipino people still suffering, and that many have lost their jobs. So our goal should be better than 2023,” she said.
She added that vaccination must be done faster so the economy can begin to recover.
The country is expected to launch its COVID-19 immunization next week
as some 117,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech jabs may arrive on Feb. 13.