Galvez: No ‘favoritism’ in COVID-19 vaccine distribution

Philippine vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Thursday denied the alleged “favoritism” in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.

In a television interview, Galvez reacted to the statement of former Health secretary and now Iloilo Representative Janette Garin, who earlier claimed that there is “palakasan” or patronage system in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

“Dini-distribute natin ang ating mga vaccine sa mga [Centers for Health Development] ang ating tinatawag na sa mga regional CHD ng DOH at the same time sa mga [local government units] at mayors ng highly urbanized [areas],” he said.

(We distribute the vaccines to the DOH CHD and at the same time, to the LGUs and the mayors of highly-urbanized areas.)

“Ang gusto kasi ni former Sec. Garin sa kanya ibigay namin ‘yung doses which is hindi naman tama. Kasi humihingi siya ng allocation. Maguguluhan po ang ibang mga LGUs kasi ‘di siya nasa lineage ng distribution. ‘Yung accounting mahihirapan po tayo at ang administration,” he disclosed.

(What Garin wants is for the national government to provide her own allocation of the vaccines which is not the proper procedure. The LGUs will be confused because she is not part of the lineage of the distribution. We will also have a hard time in accounting and administering the vaccines.)

He further pointed out that there are some politicians who want to use the COVID-19 vaccination program for their own political agenda.

“‘Yung nakikita po kasi namin na gingamit ang vaccine sa politika. ‘Yun ang dini-discourage namin na please do not use the vaccine as a political weapon ang nakikita namin sa poster sila mismo kumukuha sa mga airports. It seems na parang sa kanila galing ang vaccines,” he said.

(We also observe that some are using the vaccines for politics. That is what we discourage. Please do not use the vaccines as a political weapon. We are seeing some who put up posters in airports. It seems like they were the ones who procured the vaccines.)

Galvez also clarified that some LGU officials are calling them because they want to explain why they need more vaccine allocation in their area.

He cited the case of Cagayan de Oro City which appealed to the national government for more COVID-19 vaccine doses as they faced a recent COVID-19 surge in the area.

“We would like to contest ‘yung sinasabi ni [Congresswoman] Garin kasi wala po talagang favoritism ang ginagawa natin. Ang ginagawa natin ‘pag tumawag ang LGU and they rationalize na ‘kailangan namin ng ganitong vaccine kasi ito pa lang ang natatanggap namin,’” he added.

(We would like to contest what Congresswoman Garin said because there really is no favoritism in the vaccine distribution. What we do is we give the LGUs more supplies when they rationalize and explain their needs to the national government.)

Galvez said they are providing the vaccines that the LGUs are asking them so that local officials will not be discouraged in helping the national government in the vaccine rollout.

GMA News Online sought Garin’s comment on Galvez’s statement but she has yet to respond as of posting time. — RSJ, GMA News