The private sector could have played a much bigger role in helping the government’s vaccination efforts, had it been allowed to do so much earlier, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Tuesday.
Lacson said that had the government accommodated the private sector’s earlier request to let them import COVID vaccines, the country would be much closer to herd immunity today.
“Had the order been issued at the time when the private sector was clamoring to be allowed to procure their own vaccines, subject to the usual existing regulations and protocols issued by the World Health Organization, by now the country would likely have been vaccinating en masse and nearing herd immunity, thanks in large part to the private sector,” he said in a statement.
On Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte said he is allowing the private sector to import vaccines “at will,” following a recent spike in COVID cases.
Lacson said that while such an order is “the President’s best birthday gift to himself,” the next challenge is compliance to his instructions by the concerned health authorities.
This includes how long it will take to approve the applications to import their vaccines under the existing tripartite agreement.
Also, Lacson cited the availability of vaccines in the world market, and the time lag between booking and actual deliveries of the vaccines.
Lacson reiterated the government should consider the private sector a partner and not a competitor in its vaccination efforts, since the private sector – not being burdened by bureaucratic procedures – can import vaccines more quickly and efficiently.
“As I had repeatedly suggested in the past, in a time of crisis, government should look at the private sector as partners rather than competitors. Unfortunately, some of those in charge of handling the pandemic do not think the same way as most of us do,” he said.
Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)
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