Senate bill seeks to speed up purchase, administration of COVID-19 vaccines

MANILA, Philippines — A senator wants to grant local governments more freedom to acquire coronavirus vaccines. 

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri this week filed Senate Bill No. 2042 which seeks to allow "provinces, cities and municipalities [to] directly purchase vaccines for...protection against the coronavirus disease."

The proposed measure also permits local governments to "secure other goods and services necessary for their storage, transport and distribution."

Provinces, cities and municipalities will be authorized to make advance payments of up to 50% of their contract prices if required by suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, contractors, or consultants.

However, the bill limits the purchase of these local governments to vaccines that have already been approved by local regulators. As it stands, only Pfizer and AstraZeneca's vaccines have been approved by the country's Food and Drug Administration.

For the sake of transparency, procuring local government units must post "in a conspicuous place" the following information:

• The approved budget for the contract
• The name of the supplier, manufacturer, distributor, contractor or consultant
• The amount of contract as awarded

The bill, if enacted into law, "shall remain in full force and effect during the period of the state of calamity due to COVID-19 pandemic or until Sept. 12, 2021, unless the state of calamity is earlier lifted or extended by the President of the Philippines."

Why does this matter?

Currently, local governments may only purchase vaccines through tripartite agreements with manufacturers and the national government.

The national government has also stipulated that local governments may only purchase enough vaccines to cover up to 50% of their constituents.

A significant portion of the vaccines being acquired by the national government — such as the 25 million doses from China's Sinovac — have been met with skepticism by lawmakers, Filipinos online, and even a doctor who used to advise the coronavirus task force.

Some LGUs, looking to incentivize as many of their residents to be inoculated have committed to purchasing from manufacturers who have released definitive data on their safety and efficacy.

House Bill No. 8285, filed by Rep. Joey Salceda (Albay 2nd District), also aims to provide the "mechanisms necessary for the immediate procurement, distribution, and administration of COVID-19 vaccines."

— Bella Perez-Rubio