Malacañang has rebuffed the Philippine Red Cross by saying that Covid-19 vaccines given to all Filipinos are for free, contrary to the PRC chief’s position that certain vaccines may be offered for sale.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque made this statement to clarify a remark made by Philippine Red Cross Chairman and Senator Richard Gordon that the humanitarian organization will offer vaccines developed by Moderna of US at P3,500 for every two doses when its orders arrive.
PRC Governor Ma. Carissa Coscolluela later clarified that the procured Moderna vaccines would be offered only to members and donors, “who are willing to bear the cost of the vaccines.”
Roque said that nobody will be required to pay to receive a Covid-19 vaccine.
The President’s promise is that he will give vaccines for free because the vaccines are being procured and paid for by the government,” Roque said in a Palace press briefing.
The vaccines procured by the private sector are for the use of their employees but no one should sell vaccines because no vaccines have been cleared for general use,” he said.
In his regular pre-recorded Talk to the People televised on Tuesday morning, President Duterte ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to supervise the transport and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines after he expressed misgivings about the supposed failure of some local governments to ensure the proper administration of vaccines.
Duterte, in previous speeches, said he wanted Covid-19 vaccines to be given to all Filipinos, with priority given to frontline healthcare workers, elderly, those with comorbidities, frontline economic workers, and the poor Filipinos.
The country now has four brands of Covid-19 vaccines in its inventory—Sinovac’s CoronaVac (China), AstraZeneca (UK), Sputnik V (Russia), and Pfizer.
Since the Philippines launched its vaccination drive on March 1, some 2,282,273 individuals have already been inoculated against Covid-19, including around 719,602 who have already been fully vaccinated.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said that the Philippines can achieve herd immunity by November this year once it reaches its target of 500,000 jabs a day or three million jabs a week.
The Philippines aims to vaccinate around 50 to 70 million Filipinos this year to attain herd immunity.
