DOH: Appointment of Galvez as vaccine czar won't change our process
MANILA, Philippines — The policies on vaccines already in place will remain even with the appointment of presidential peace adviser and former military general Carlito Galvez as the coronavirus vaccine czar, the Department of Health said Wednesday.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Galvez, who is already the pandemic national action plan implementer, may add “more expeditious” process to fasttrack the rollout of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines.
“We won’t change anything in our process just because Galvez was assigned as the vaccine czar. All the processes will still be continued,” she said in a briefing.
The former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff will oversee the purchase, negotiations, manufacturing, production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, Vergeire added.
The appointment of Galvez has been criticized as the position should have been given to someone with medical background.
But presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the military background of Galvez will be useful in his new role as the importation and distribution of vaccines once they become available would be more of a logistical challenge than medical.
The evaluation and approval of vaccines will still be handled by medical experts, Roque added.
‘Whole-of-government approach’
In a statement Wednesday, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said vaccine delivery is “not a job for one Superman.”
“He has to assemble his Justice League. Not just from the military, but from all sectors, especially businesses with the supply chain expertise to regularly restock millions of stores of their products seamlessly,” Recto said.
“He is the mere conductor of an orchestra that must work in perfect symphony,” he added.
The DOH, however, stressed that Galvez will not work alone.
“This would still be a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. Sec. Galvez won’t be working alone. We will help him, we’ll support him. The whole government will cooperate along with other partners,” Vergeire said.
Galvez unveiled Tuesday his four-phased plan for vaccine distribution, which is hinged on the assumption that a vaccine would be available for wide distribution by the first quarter of next year. The roadmap will be submitted to Duterte for approval.
Last week, the government's coronavirus task force created a task group that would ensure COVID-19 vaccines, once available will reach the target population. The task group will be under the National Task Force Against COVID-19 and will be led by the Department of Health. It is not clear how Galvez's new assignment will affect this.
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