Middle- to high-income Filipinos could pay for their own coronavirus vaccine, President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday night, as he revealed a plan to borrow US$300 million (about P15 billion) to purchase the cure to COVID-19 for all Filipinos.
“As I have promised, the government will shoulder the cost of the vaccine for all Filipinos. That’s why we will start with the poor going up,” he said in his weekly televised meeting with the COVID-19 task force.
Duterte, however, acknowledged that it might take some time before the country acquires doses of a vaccine since pharmaceutical companies would prioritize their nations first. Once the vaccine supply is available, the government would prioritize the poor in the distribution, he added.
“(Finance Secretary) Sonny (Dominguez) says that he can borrow money of $300 million. That’s huge. We can purchase the vaccine, but I think it would do as well to also realize that they would prioritize their people first),” he said.
“So, you can expect that within the few months until next year, all of those vaccines produced will be used for the Americans.”
The President acknowledged that purchasing the vaccines early would be expensive but noted that the threat of COVID-19 has become less scary as some pharmaceutical firms in the US and China have made progress in developing life-saving cures.
400k case mark breached
This developed as the country’s coronavirus cases breached the 400,000 mark on Wednesday, with 1,672 new cases were reported, even as eight laboratories failed to submit their reports, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
The labs were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 Data Repository System (CDRS) on November 10, but the total case count rose to 401,416, the DOH said.
The country currently has 31,489 active cases, which is 7.8 percent of the total number of cases. The DOH also reported 311 patients have recovered, bringing the total to 362,217 recoveries, and 49 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 7,710 — 1.92 percent of the total cases.
OCTA: Idea rate reached in NCR
The University of the Philippines OCTA Research Team, a group of experts who have been studying COVID-19 transmission in the country, said the positivity rate in the National Capital Region (NCR) has gone down to 5 percent, reaching the “ideal” rate recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
A COVID-19 monitoring report by UP OCTA on Wednesday showed the positivity rate in Metro Manila has decreased from 8 percent in the last week of September to 5 percent in the first week of November.
The experts also reported that the reproduction number of the virus that causes COVID-19 has increased for the last three weeks, with 0.88 as the latest, but has remained below 1. A value higher than one indicates the pandemic is spreading, the group said previously.
However, UP OCTA observed a recent “upward trend” in the daily number of new COVID-19 cases nationwide and in the NCR, though they said it was unclear whether this was because of the gradual reopening of the economy or the resumption of testing by the Philippine Red Cross.
DOH: Temper vaccine expectations
The DOH on Wednesday called on the public to temper expectations on a potential vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech being 90 percent effective against COVID-19, considering that the results are still in early stages.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire made the appeal after President Duterte said there is nothing to fear about COVID-19 because vaccines are ready while lamenting that these are expensive.
“Hindi naman kailangang matakot sa COVID-19. Ang kailangan natin maging laging vigilant, laging handa, laging cautious and aware, laging sumusunod sa minimum health standards — washing of hands, physical distancing, ban on mass gathering,” Vergeire said during an online briefing.
“Itong bakuna ng Pfizer ay napaka-encouraging po, but we should temper our expectations and remain grounded on the reality na ginagawa pa lang ito,” Vergeire said.
Procurement law exemption
The DOH is trying to secure exemption of COVID-19 vaccines from a provision in the Procurement Law that bans advance payment to ensure quick access to the cure, Vergeire said on Wednesday.
“We are bound by the Procurement Law on [prohibition on] advance payment, and we have sought the assistance of the Office of the President for a direction, for a special exemption on not giving advance payment until the orders are here under RA 9184,” she said in an online forum.
“Many of vaccine manufacturers and other partners we are negotiating with are requiring advance payment kaya ginagawan natin ng paraan na magkaroon ng exemption because of this pandemic,” Vergeire said.