De Lima files bill seeking to provide all Filipinos COVID vaccine for free

A measure has been filed at the Senate seeking to provide free vaccines against COVID-19 to all Filipinos, and establish a safe and efficient system for their distribution and delivery.

Senator Leila De Lima has filed Senate Bill 1942, or the proposed "Libreng Bakuna Kontra COVID-19 Para sa Lahat ng Pilipino Act," which allocates funds and mandates the country's health system to offer vaccines for all Filipinos for free.

“Anticipating the arrival of these vaccines subject to trials and local evaluation soonest, this representation believes the need to guarantee free vaccination for all Filipinos whose right to health should not be diminished by belatedly acting on the health crisis,” De Lima said in a statement in filing the bill.

“As hopes grow for the early arrival of vaccines in the country, we must be prepared and guarantee our people the safe and efficient distribution of the vaccine to all Filipinos, especially the priority and vulnerable sectors of our society. It cannot be overemphasized: vaccine coverage is as important as vaccine efficacy,” she added.

The Philippine government has set aside P73.2 billion for the procurement of a COVID-19 vaccine for 60 million Filipinos, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier said.

He added the finance department estimated the cost of a vaccine to be around $25 or P1,200 per person.

“Ang total niyan is about P73.2 billion financing. That’s pretty much almost fixed… [that] is good for 60 million people to be vaccinated,” Dominguez said.

The vaccination of 60 million would allow for herd immunity, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.

A herd immunity will allow a population to be protected from a virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached. Duque said that according to the World Health Organization, herd immunity may be achieved if 60 to 70 percent of the population is vaccinated.

De Lima said that the benefits of a universal vaccination would not only outweigh the costs, as it will be proven cost-effective and efficient in the long run.

“The cost of universal vaccination may seem too high on its face, but could later on be the very tool that will help the government to save more money in order to create and institutionalize more programs for the welfare of all," she said.

Aside from the free vaccine provision, the measure would allow persons to choose which accredited COVID vaccine they will get and the institutions from which to receive them.

Vaccine czar and National Task Force Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier reported that the Philippines is eyeing at least three to four vaccines for use in the Philippines with the earliest coming in the second quarter of next year.

The three vaccines, in order of stages of negotiations, are AztraZeneca from the United Kingdom, Sinovac from China, Pfizer from the US.

The measure also mandates the creation of a database to track vaccination receipts if ever there will be a problem in administering them. —LBG, GMA News