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Angara: P70-B unprogrammed fund for COVID-19 vaccines 'solid'
By DONA MAGSINO, GMA News Senator Sonny Angara on Thursday said the P72.5 billion funding for COVID-19 vaccines under the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 is dependable.
Angara made this assurance in response to concerns about the fact that only P2.5 billion of the said allocation would be under the regular funds of the Department of Health while the rest are tagged as unprogrammed.
"The P70 billion is a solid funding also. Just because it's under the unprogrammed fund doesn't mean it's not solid funding," Angara, chair of the Senate committee on finance, said in an interview on ANC.
"It's not dependent just on tax collections, in fact it's non-tax collection or non-fiscal collection... It's very reachable, I've been assured by our economic managers. So they don't mind that we put it there. That is solid funding," he added.
Asked about Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto's impression that the amount allocated for COVID-19 immunization was done out of guessing for lack of concrete demands from the executive branch, Angara said: "'Hula-hula lang' in the sense that we don't know which vaccine we are buying because we don't know who can supply our needs."
Nonetheless, the senator said he believes there is "sufficient" funding to inoculate 60% of the population under the proposed 2021 budget as well as the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act which has another P10 billion allocation for vaccines.
"If you're talking of a vaccine that you can obtain at P600, you're talking about over 100 million persons getting vaccinated. So, that would seem sufficient," he said.
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Angara emphasized that the government has moving targets because of the fluidity in the vaccine development situation.
A whole of government approach and cooperation would be needed to ensure the success of the COVID-19 immunization program, the senator said, as he reiterated confidence in the budget approved by Congress.
"I think it (the budget) represents a lot of hope, especially with the vaccine side, the testing, and we provided funding for contact tracing also," he said.
Last month, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said around P73 billion would be needed to vaccinate 60 million Filipinos and achieve herd immunity.
This could be financed through loans and other bilateral agreements with countries that are developing vaccines, according to the Cabinet official.
Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., meanwhile, said the Philippines is in talks to secure 60 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by next year from manufacturers Sinovac, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer.—AOL, GMA News