SINOVAC VACCINE PRICE

Lacson: Palace indirectly called DOH's Duque a fake news source

Senator Panfilo Lacson suggested on Monday that Palace officials had effectively labeled Secretary Francisco Duque a source of fake news when they disputed information from the Health Department that two doses of the Sinovac vaccine would cost P3,629.

"We dare ask: Are Secretary [Harry] Roque and Secretary [Carlito] Galvez saying that Secretary Duque was the peddler of that fake news?" the senator asked during a privilege speech.

Roque earlier claimed that the P3,629 estimate was "fake news."

"Ang ating presyo, bagamat hindi pa puwedeng i-anunsiyo talaga kung ano talaga ang presyo ng Sinovac ay hindi lalayo sa presyo ng Indonesia na bandang P650 kada turok," Roque has said over the weekend.

Lacson was also skeptical of Galvez's explanation that the P3,629 price circulating on social media was that of Sinopharm and not Sinovac.

"However, we must take note that Senator Angara stated for the record last Friday that the vaccine prices released by his office late last year, which included the Sinovac price, and now going viral on social media, were furnished by the Department of Health to the Senate Committee on Finance during the 2021 budget deliberations," said Lacson.

The senator argued that the executive officials in charge of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout were employing a tactic that would create confusion in an attempt to rush the procurement of Sinovac.

"Unluckily for them, we do not get confused easily," Lacson said.

Sinovac, for its part, said it will provide its COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines at a "very good" price.

On the other hand, the Department of Health released a statement regarding the circulating vaccine prices.

"The DOH clarifies that the said vaccine prices were indicative market prices based on the rates published by different manufacturers generated for the purpose of estimating the proposed budget for the vaccination program," it said.

"These are not, in any way, the negotiated prices that the government and the manufacturer agreed on," it added.

The DOH also implored the public to trust and respect the vaccine procurement process. — DVM, GMA News