Lack of indemnification law caused delay in Pfizer vaccine delivery —Galvez

The country's lack of an indemnification law—a measure ensuring compensation for individuals who develop serious side effects after getting a COVID-19 vaccine—has caused the delay in the delivery of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to the Philippines.

During a Senate panel hearing on Thursday, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine could have been delivered to the country as early as this Friday if the Philippines had its own indemnification law.

"Kung may indemnification law tayo, yung Pfizer baka February 12 nandito na yun," he said. 

The Philippines is expected to receive at least 5.6 million doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines within the first quarter of 2021, with the initial batch of 117,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines arriving this month.

Galvez has been calling on Congress to pass an indemnification law, which he said is required by COVAX, the globally-pooled vaccine procurement and distribution effort co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gavi vaccine alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

Last month, two bills seeking to establish an indemnity fund for vaccine-related injuries in the country were filed in the Senate.

Both bills propose that the indemnity fund be subsidized by pharmaceutical companies supplying the government with vaccines for public immunization programs, by reserving 1% of the contract price to be deposited with the national treasury. The bills also propose the creation of a Vaccines Compensation Board to manage the indemnification fund.

For now, Galvez said, the government has submitted a draft indemnity clause to the WHO and the Gavi vaccine alliance.

"We have already the draft. Ang ball talaga nasa kanila sa WHO tsaka sa COVAX Gavi. We already submitted yung indemnity clause at nasa kanila yung bola na ibigay sa atin yung final draft," he said.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said PhilHealth may cover individuals who develop adverse side effects from taking a COVID-19 vaccine, although the funding for this was not included in the corporate operating budget of the agency for 2021.

"I would like to suggest that if any fund may be identified or a source be identified to fund this particularly indemnification, siguro ang dapat mag-administer ng fund na yun ay yung PhilHealth para sila na yung gagawa ng benefit package," he said.

"So instead of giving it straight to people as a compensation for whatever side effect they might experience, it would be PhilHealth, through reimbursements to hospitals, that will provide the cure or treatment," he added.

The Philippines targets to inoculate 50 to 70 million individuals within the year, and an estimated 50,000 is expected to be vaccinated in February. — BM, GMA News