GOVERNMENT’S plan to buy COVID-19 vaccine booster shots next year is hanging in the balance because the Department of Health has yet to assure the Department of Budget and Management on the need for it.
The government is planning to give booster shots in the first quarter of next year. The World Health Organization on Wednesday said there is yet no conclusive data on the need for COVID-19 booster shots.
Budget officer-in-charge Undersecretary Tina Rose Marie Canda said the P45.4-billion proposed fund for the purchase of booster shots has been placed under “unprogrammed funds,” which means it will not be funded if the government fails to collect enough revenues next year.
“Hindi namin siya binigyan dahil hindi pa namin sigurado kung talagang kailangan ‘yan kasi wala namang assurance na kailangan ‘yun (We didn’t allocate a budget for it because there’s no assurance yet that it is needed),” she told the initial hearing yesterday of the House committee on appropriations on the P5.024-trillion proposed national budget for 2022.
Canda issued the statements in response to Rep. Stella Quimbo (LP, Marikina) who said she was wondering why the proposed budget for booster shots was placed under unprogrammed funds when vaccines are badly needed for the country to achieve economic recovery.
In his budget message to Congress, President Duterte said the 2022 budget will fund the procurement and distribution of more COVID-19 vaccines, including booster shots for fully vaccinated individuals.
Canda said the government could not set aside a definite budget for the booster shots “in the absence of any definitive ruling from the DOH that it is a requirement at this point.”
About 4 percent of next year’s budget or about P241 billion was allocated for COVID-19 response, including P45.4 billion under “unprogrammed appropriations” to cover the COVID-19 booster shots for the 93.7 million Filipinos targeted to be fully vaccinated and who might need to be inoculated again next year.
If the government’s revenue targets will not be met next year, Canda said, no booster shots will be purchased because “lesser collections would mean lesser amounts to generate under windfall revenues.”
The first day of the budget hearing traditionally discusses macroeconomic assumptions with the Development Budget Coordination Committee which is composed of the DBM, Department of Finance, the National Economic and Development Authority, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
The education sector covering the Department of Education, state universities and colleges, and the Commission on Higher Education still has highest allocation with P773.6 billion, higher by P21.9 billion or 2.9 percent compared to this year’s budget.
Social services will continue to receive the biggest chunk of the budget with P1.922 trillion and this will fund health-related services such as the continued implementation of the Universal Health Care Act, purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, procurement of personal protective equipment.
Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said provinces around Metro Manila such as those in the Calabarzon and Central Luzon regions will get higher vaccine allocations from September.
Roque said the government wants areas around Metro Manila, the epicenter of COVID-19 cases, to catch up with the NCR which has vaccinated at least 40 percent of its target population. The NCR is expected to vaccinate 50 percent of its eligible population between the end of August and next month.
He said Calabarzon can expect close to 20 million doses of vaccines and Central Luzon, 17 million doses.
Allocation in Metro Manila is expected to be around 951,000 doses in September and around 4.3 million in the fourth quarter.
As of August 25, Roque said 31.43 million doses have been administered nationwide, with 13.37 million Filipinos already fully vaccinated.
Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla said his province needs at least 6 million doses to inoculate 70 percent of its residents but it has received only about a million doses, and recently, an additional 4,000 shots a day good for only 15 days.
He appealed to the national government to allow Cavite to buy its own vaccines, adding the province has allocated a P2.5 billion to buy vaccines. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
