Concerns raised in procurement of COVID-19 bivalent vaccines 

MANILA, Philippines — Several medical and policy experts comprising the Advisory Council of Experts, a group organized by Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, are raising concerns that the same mistake may be repeated in the country’s vaccination efforts to procure bivalent vaccines against COVID-19.

Last month, the Department of Health bared a plan to procure only a limited number of doses of the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said they would just place additional orders “as interests increase.”

Concepcion warned that delays in decision-making in the past contributed to billions of pesos worth of COVID-19 vaccines reaching expiration date without ever being used.
 
“We can’t afford to make the same mistakes twice with our bivalent vaccines,” he said. Concepcion led private sector efforts to procure COVID-19 vaccines in the early days of the pandemic through a tripartite agreement that overcame regulatory roadblocks for the vaccines.
 
The DOH recently announced that they are now waiting for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. 

“This time around, we should know what went wrong, what went right, how to move forward so we can execute well,” said public health advocate Dr. Tony Leachon.

The cause of the delays during the COVID-19 response, according to medical experts, was due to the lack of clarity on the roles of the Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) and the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC). 

The HTAC examines the cost-benefit and effectiveness studies before the government proceeds with procurement while the VEP gives its recommendations regarding age indication and priority populations. However, it is the HTAC that is tasked with formulating the guidelines. 

“Clearly, the functions overlap across the committees. Time to delineate each and maybe collapse one or two,” said Dr. Maricar Limpin, immediate past president of the Philippine College of Physicians.