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'KICKVACC' ISSUE
Galvez: No gov’t official has access to funds for COVID-19 vaccine purchase
By TED CORDERO,GMA NewsNational Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Saturday dispelled the suspicion that officials may be eyeing kickbacks which allegedly caused the failure of the government to secure early some 10 million doses of Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19.
“We would also like to emphasize that no government official has access to the funds for vaccine procurement,” Galvez said in a statement.
“All deals will be made through international procurement agreements and all payments for the vaccines will be managed by our multilateral partners with the Department of Finance on the lead,” he said.
Senator Francis Pangilinan floated the idea that there may be an issue of “kickvacc” that’s why the country missed an opportunity to get a hand on Pfizer’s vaccine early.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. recently said "somebody dropped the ball" which affected the shipment of 10 million Pfizer vaccines to the country.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, citing information from Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez, later on said it was Health Secretary Francisco Duque III who failed to work on the necessary documentary requirement, namely, the Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement (CDA).
In his defense, Duque said if ever he was at fault, it was due to “err on the side of caution
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The Health chief also said the CDA required by Pfizer was originally intended to be signed by the Office of the President (OP) and not the Department of Health.
Duque said the DOH cannot sign the CDA on behalf of the whole government which was why the Department of Science and Technology and Galvez signed the CDA separately.
To address the issue, Galvez explained the process of vaccine procurement.
“To give you a clear picture of the process of vaccine procurement and allay the fears of some quarters, the Department of Health leads the government’s preparation for the Agency Procurement Request (APR),” he said.
“Meanwhile, as Vaccine Czar, my role is primarily focused on negotiating directly with the vaccine companies to make sure we get the best deal possible in terms of cost, volume, time of delivery, and supply agreement,” he said.
Galvez said after the draft contract is agreed upon by parties, it will be submitted to the Department of Finance, which will scrutinize it and ensure the provisions in the document are in accordance with the Food and Drug Administration and multilateral regulatory requirements.
“Once cleared, the contract will be forwarded to our multilateral partners or fund managers for further review and validation to ensure the integrity of the contract,” Galvez said.
He noted that main mode of procurement that the government utilizes in acquiring the vaccines is through multilateral arrangements with Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, and other global financing agencies.
“Our fund managers such as the World Bank and the ADB have laid out very stringent regulatory requirements and processes we need to follow such as WHO accreditation of the vaccines and Stringent Regulatory Authorization of foreign countries like the US, UK, Canada, or Singapore,” he said.
“We want to assure the public that all transactions the government has entered into are being done with utmost transparency, sense of fairness, and accountability,” he added. —KG, GMA News