SENATE majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday urged the Senate Committee of the Whole on the Vaccination Program to investigate delays in government’s signing of multi-party agreements (MPAs) allowing local government units (LGUs) and the private sector to directly buy COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturers under government supervision.
In Senate Resolution No. 858, Zubiri said the Senate should look into reports that MPAs submitted by LGUs and the private sector have still been unsigned “and are languishing on the national government’s end, directly affecting the country’s vaccine rollout.”
Zubiri, one of the principal authors of RA 11525 or the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021, said there are two sections in the measure which allows LGUs and the private sector to purchase vaccines directly from manufacturers as long as it is under the supervision of the National Task Force against COVID-19.
To date, he said that only two entities from the private sector have been given the MPA, leaving the LGUs still hoping to also be given the authorization.
“Forty-four more LGUs nationwide have pending applications for MPAs. We want to know from the experts, from the leaders of the Department of Health, why these MPAs have not yet been signed. This will help the government because the government need not find sources of funds to purchase COVID-19 vaccines since the funds will be provided by the LGUs and the private sector,” Zubiri said in mixed Filipino and English.
He said the LGUs and around 300 private entities have pending MPAs for the purchase of at least 10 million doses.
He said he has sent messages to vaccine czar Carlito Galvez and Secretary Vince Dizon, deputy implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19, asking why the MPAs have not been signed but the the two have yet to reply.
He said the LGUs also do not know why the MPAs they have applied for have not been signed.
Zubiri appealed to the government to immediately act on the MPAs.
“Just allow them to buy vaccines directly from the manufacturer so we can have one million vaccinations a day, so we can double our vaccination in accordance with IATF guidelines,” he said.
The COVID-19 Vaccination Program authorizes the DOH and the National Task Force against COVID-19 to negotiate and approve the terms and conditions of procurement of vaccines on behalf of an LGU and private entities in order to ensure price uniformity and prevent prize competition.
Zubiri said he recently made the rounds in Bohol and Cebu where he found out that the national government has been allotting small quantities of vaccines there.
Zubiri said vaccine supply could have been tight for government orders primarily due to funding but the MPAs will allow LGUs and private sectors to pay for what they order.
