Go to ask Duterte to certify proposed vaccine indemnification fund law as urgent

Published February 15, 2021 01:16 PM By LLANESCA T. PANTI,GMA News

Senator Bong Go will ask President Rodrigo Duterte to certify the proposed COVID-19 Vaccine Indemnification Fund Law, which provides compensation for those who will experience severe side effects as a result of COVID-19 vaccine, as an urgent measure.

Go, formerly Duterte's special assistant, issued the statement after vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. said the arrival of the first batch of 117,000 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines was delayed due to lack of indemnification law in the Philippines.

“Hihilingin natin kay Pangulong Duterte na i-certify as urgent ito upang maisabatas sa mas lalong madaling panahon. In this time of crisis, time is of the essence. Importante na maisabatas ito upang maging tuloy-tuloy na pag-rollout ng mga bakuna sa ating bansa,” Go said Monday.

“Inaasikaso na po ito ng NTF (National Task Force) at ng ating mga government finance managers. Kasalukuyang ginagawa na rin ang report ng Senate Committee on Finance, sa pamumuno ni Senator Sonny Angara, upang maisama ito sa ide-deliberate sa plenaryo,” he added.

Go, however, conceded that the fund source for such measure has yet to be identified at this point. “Pinag-aaralan na rin kung saan kukunin ang pondo,” he said.

Last week, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the President is not keen

on certifying the proposed bills indemnification just yet because such action does not guarantee the bill’s passage. 

A bill certified by the President as urgent can be approved by Congress on second and third reading on the same day.

President Duterte, however, has vetoed a bill certified as urgent back in July 2019: the Security of Tenure bill.

At least two bills providing indemnification for COVID-19 vaccine recipients who will experience severe side effects have been filed in the Senate so far by Senators Nancy Binay and Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. 

Under their proposal, the indemnity fund will be subsidized by pharmaceutical companies that supply the government with vaccines for public immunization programs.

Their proposal also provides that vaccine makers should reserve 1% of the contract price for the fund, which shall be deposited with the national treasury to be ultimately earmarked to compensate those who sustained "vaccine-related adverse events." —KBK, GMA News

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