DOH vows compliance with COA to audit billions used to buy COVID-19 vaccines

The Department of Health said it is ready to coordinate and comply with the Commission on Audit (COA) in liquidating billions in public funds used to procure COVID-19 vaccines.

The Health Department issued the statement after Senator Sonny Angara said the COA has yet to audit public funds used to procure COVID-19 vaccines because its hands are tied by the non-disclosure agreements that were entered into by the Philippine government and the vaccine suppliers.

In response, the DOH vowed that it is ready to provide all required and necessary documents for auditing.

“The DOH welcomes any inquiries from our partners in the Congress and the Commission on Audit concerning the DOH’s performance of its mandates,” the DOH said in a statement released Wednesday.

“Specifically on the subject of COVID-19 vaccine expenditures, the DOH is ready to coordinate and comply with the COA's auditing process and provide all required documents available to the DOH in accordance with existing laws, considering that the execution of COVID-19 vaccine negotiations and procurement also involves other agencies like the NTF, DOF, and DFA, pursuant to DOH-NTF JAO 2021-0001 or the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 11525, otherwise known as the "COVID-19 Vaccination Law,” it added.

Angara said there was P8.93 billion under the 2021 national budget allocated for vaccine procurement and almost P70 billion from foreign-assisted loans.

Based on the DOH’s COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, a total of 165,439,563 total doses have been administered as of November 15.

At least 70,977,588 received first dose, while 20,797,134 received booster dose, the DOH reported. — Richa Noriega/RSJ, GMA Integrated News