Duterte not blaming anyone over COVID-19 vaccine delay, Nograles says

President Rodrigo Duterte does not hold anybody from the Philippine government at fault over the delayed arrival of COVID-19 vaccines in the country because shipping the vaccines is the responsibility of the manufacturers, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Tuesday.

Nograles made the response when asked if the President holds anybody accountable over the delayed arrival of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX and the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines which were supposed to arrive February 15 and February 23.

“Alam mo, si Pangulo, he understands that we are at the receiving end of these vaccines. As much as we want to…as practicable as possible…ginagawa  naman po natin ang lahat ng kinakailangan based on requirements,” Nograles said in a virtual briefing.

“But at the end of the day, it is the vaccine manufacturers’ obligation, responsibility to ship it to us at a time that was promised,” Nograles added.

The dates of expected arrival of Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinovac vaccines were earlier announced by presidential spokesperson Harry Roque and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.

The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization to Pfizer-BioNTech back in January 14, but Galvez said during a Senate hearing last February 11 that the lack of indemnification law in the country delayed the arrival of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines in the country. 

“We are at the receiving end of vaccine manufacturers. As far as the gov’t is concerned, the FDA has already issued the EUA for Sinovac. It’s up to the donating country, the vaccine manufacturer to expedite the delivery,” Nograles said.

While the delay of COVID-19 vaccine arrival was undeniable, Nograles assured the public that the country will get vaccine doses from the COVAX facility.

“I don't think mawawalan tayo ng allocation. Commitment was made by the WHO (World Health Organization) through COVAX. They stand by that commitment,” he added.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque earlier said the delayed arrival of 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines, which has been found to have a 92% efficacy rate among all races by the Philippine FDA, is not a big issue. — RSJ, GMA News