PHILIPPINE Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Friday, December 18, maintained that the discussions with Pfizer reportedly didn’t include supplying the country with 10 million doses of its vaccine.
“I completely, unequivocally deny that. Unang-una, ang 10 million dose na iyan, wala naman akong alam. Wala silang pinadalang sulat na may ganoong commitment ang Pfizer (First of all, I did not know about that 10 million doses. They did not send a letter that Pfizer has that kind of commitment). There was no document,” he told CNN Philippines.
“As Secretary of Health, the right thing to do was send me a communication that Pfizer is securing 10 million doses for the country,” he added.
According to Duque, Pfizer’s confidentiality disclosure agreement (CDA) only allowed the company to share data about its vaccine candidate.
“It’s not a key to securing any quota or amount of vaccine from Pfizer. It’s just a CDA. It’s not a key to securing anything,” he said.
Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also backed Duque’s statement, stressing that the CDA was only for sharing vaccine development data to the country.
“Wala pong nilalaman ang CDA na ‘yan tungkol sa mga operational details, technical details. Wala pong nakalagay diyang ilang doses ba, what period ba at meron na bang deliveries. Wala pong ganyan (That CDA did not include operational details, technical details. There were no details about doses, which period and deliveries),” she said.
On Tuesday, Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. disclosed that the Philippines was supposed to receive 10 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine as early as January, but someone bungled the deal.
In a series of tweets, Locsin shared that he and Philippine Ambassador to the United State Jose “Babe” Romualdez facilitated a deal with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to secure Pfizer’s vaccine that has a 95% efficacy rate.
The purchase was supposed to be financed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
“That said my thanks just the same to US Sec of State Mike Pompeo we – Babe Romualdez and I – got 10 million doses of Pfizer financed by World Bank and ADB to be shipped thru FEDEX to Clark in January. But somebody dropped the ball,” Locsin tweeted.
Senator Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday night named Duque as the individual responsible for the missed Pfizer vaccine purchase.
“Thus, (Locsin and Romualdez) 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 Secretary Duque who failed to work on the necessary documentary requirement, namely, the CDA as he should have done,” he said in a series of text messages sent to reporters.
Duque, for his part, denied that he cost the country’s early access to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
“I have the chronology of events so that this is all documented and there is no such a thing that I did not act quick enough,” he said Thursday.
“The thing is you go through a process, and when you go through a process, you cannot just be hurrying up things just like that. You have to be prudent and cautious especially because you are talking about a brand new, novel vaccine at that,” he added.
