STATEMENT OF NATIONAL TASK FORCE AGAINST COVID-19 CHIEF IMPLEMENTER AND VACCINE CZAR SECRETARY CARLITO GALVEZ JR
The Philippine government is determined to acquire safe and effective vaccines for all Filipinos, regardless of brand or their country of origin. With this as our guiding principle, it is our duty as public servants to carefully study and evaluate all documents relative to the procurement and acquisition of candidate vaccines, especially when the public’s health and safety are at stake. As we take responsibility
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| December 12-18, 2020
for our actions, we cannot afford to engage in fingerpointing or buck-passing at this crucial stage. These kinds of discussions are unproductive and will only distract us from carrying out our crucial mandate. Since we started our negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies and the embassies of their respective governments, all the decisions and actions we have made are in accordance with the careful process of
scientific evaluation and selection of the Vaccine Expert Panel. The process of selection is based on safety, efficacy, costeffectiveness, the track record of the vaccine maker, complexity of handling and logistics, after-sales and life cycle services, production capacity and early delivery, and longterm commitment. The Philippine National Vaccine Road map also created a Task Group for Adverse Effect to monitor that these vaccines are safe. This is to ensure that everything that we do will redound to public health safety and the lasting benefit of the Filipino people. This measure is part of the government’s due diligence coming from the controversies that the country has suffered from the Dengvaxia issue, which caused unnecessary fear and stigma among the public. Caraga INFOCUS
