Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson disclosed that Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III “dropped the ball” in the recent controversy on the Pfizer vaccine procurement.
In a text message, Sen. Lacson confirmed that the health secretary failed to sign the Confidential Disclosure Agreement that was requested by Pfizer.
“They could have secured the delivery of 10 million Pfizer vaccines as early as January next year, way ahead of Singapore but for the indifference of Sec. Duque who failed to work on the necessary documentary requirement namely, the Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement (CDA) as he should have done.”
Sec. Duque initially denied the statement made by Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Teodoro Locsin on the issue stating that “there is no such a thing as dropping of the ball.”
He pointed out that Pfizer advised the DOH only on September 24 saying that the Office of the Executive Secretary has ordered them to sign the document.
“Tuloy-tuloy lang kami sa mga reviews ng mga conditionality ‘yung provisions and I just wanted to make sure na hindi disadvantageous to government ‘yung mga provision. (We just continued the review of the conditionality, the provisions, and I just wanted to make sure that the provisions are not disadvantageous to the government),” he explained.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque disclosed that President Rodrigo R. Duterte advised Sec. Duque to answer the allegations.
Sec. Roque also clarified that the initial stocks have already been purchased by other countries “at ang katotohanan na bagamat sinabi na dapat January tayo makakakuha ng Pfizer, ang reyalidad po talaga ay spoken for na po ang mga na-manufacture ng Pfizer for delivery in January dahil ‘yan po ay bayad na ng mga bumili. (And the truth is, even if [they] said that we are going to acquire the Pfizer vaccine by January, the reality is [the vaccines] manufactured by Pfizer are spoken for and are for delivery in January because those are already paid)” – Report from Mark Fetalco
