All private companies, including those selling tobacco, infant milk formula, soda, and liquor, are allowed to buy COVID-19 vaccines for their employees provided they do it under a tripartite deal with the national government and the vaccine manufacturer, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Monday.
Roque made the announcement after several lawmakers raised concerns over the supposed plan of the Health Department and the National Task Force Against COVID-19 to prevent such private companies involved in manufacturing products “in conflict with public health” from procuring COVID-19 vaccines for their employees.
The lawmakers, led by House Ways and Means panel chairperson Joey Salceda, argued that such plan was detrimental to the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program.
But Roque stressed that such deals by private entities should be done in a tripartite agreement, adding “The tripartite agreement with the national government is indispensable.
Prior to Roque’s announcement, WHO country representative for the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said that such procurement restriction was not based on a whim.
Pursuant to RA 11525 or the “COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021,” recently passed by the Senate and lower house, private companies and Local Government Units are authorized to procure COVID-19 vaccines which have been given Emergency Use Authorization EUA by the Food and Drug Administration, in cooperation with the DOH and the NTF through a tripartite agreement.
Meanwhile, Senator Joel Villanueva scored the proposal to exclude certain firms from the government’s vaccine procurement program, saying such a move, if implemented, would hamper the efforts on speeding up the roll out of vaccines across the broader population.
Villanueva referred to Section 5 of a draft administrative order by the Department of Health circulating in the public which stated that the DOH and the National Task Force would “ensure that private entities who will be part of the agreement are not in any way related to the tobacco industry, products covered under EO 51 series of 1986 or the "National Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, Breastmilk Supplement and Other Related Products" or other industries in conflict with public health.”
“The supposed provision is inconsistent with our common goal of vaccinating our people so every worker can go back to work without fear of getting sick," said Villanueva in a statement.
He noted vaccines should be made available for all. "No company should be excluded.”
He expressed hope that the Department of Health would be prevailed to scrutinize its administrative order closely and rescind any provision that runs contrary to the efficient and massive rollout of vaccines.
Salceda, House ways and means chair, said the DOH draft order was practically locking out the cash-strapped government from receiving any form of assistance from the private sector.
He stressed despite existing laws and issuances against direct interaction with “sinful” industries such as tobacco, government agencies such as the DOH are still allowed to do so “when strictly necessary for the latter's effective regulation, supervision or control.”
“There seems to be nothing in the law that prevents the kind of interactions required to sign vaccine agreements. The DOH is really stretching its authority here, and every rule they are introducing on top of all the others seems to just complicate our response without getting anything meaningful against COVID-19 done,” Salceda said.
Under the DOH draft, which is being routed for approval by member agencies of the NTF, firms that produce and sell products that pose health risks to the public shall be barred from partnering with the government in procuring or donating vaccines to their employees and families.
House Deputy Minority Leader Marikina City Rep. Estella Quimbo, a senior member of the House ways and means committee, echoed Salceda's view.
She appealed to DOH not to be too hasty in rejecting private sector participation, which can deliver the much-needed push for a broader vaccination roll-out.
“We are fortunate that we have a proactive private sector that has expressed willingness to co-finance the vaccine program and will, in effect, protect as many Filipinos as possible. The proposed policy of preventing companies that are deemed to be engaged in activities that are contrary to public health reflects a misappreciation by its proponents of the public health mandate of the DOH during a pandemic,” Quimbo said.
Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon, an anti-smoking advocate, said instead of banning private entities which may be related to the said “barred” industries, DOH “should just make it conditional that the vaccines will not be used in any way to directly or indirectly promote or distribute products of those industries.”
“DOH should be thinking of ways how to go around hurdles to vaccine procurement and distribution, instead of being the one putting up obstacles,” Biazon pointed out.
Deputy Speaker Rep. Bienvenido Abante, for his part, said any help from the private sector must be welcomed by government agencies to fast-track the attainment of the goals of the vaccination campaign.
“Any policy that runs counter to this objective, such as barring particular companies from securing vaccines, should be seriously reconsidered by the DOH,” he said.
Kabayan Rep. Ron Salo said while government does not discriminate against criminals, drug addicts, drunkards, murderers, rapists, plunderers, corrupt officials, and convicted felons in having access to COVID-19 vaccines, it seems it wants to throw under the bus the employees of companies with unhealthy products.
No less than Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin has flagged the proposed DOH order and has expressed opposition to it. “It is one thing to discourage smoking or lactose intolerance, and quite another to destroy the livelihood and the lives of people who depend on the tobacco, milk, sugar and soda companies which pay more taxes than the directors of PhilHealth have stolen,” Locsin said.
He added in a Tweet message: “And yet the village idiot is preparing an Administrative Order prohibiting these companies from procuring and donating vaccines to their employees and the government.”