Incentivize private sector procurement of vaccines, says House Leader

With the Department of Health (DOH) reporting a record-high number of new cases in a single day, Deputy Speaker and Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. urged the DOH and the government to allow the private sector to assist the government in vaccinating the population by allowing all companies to procure vaccines and to revisit guidelines that require the private sector to donate a portion of their vaccine supplies to the government.

According to Abante, “the surge of COVID-19 cases have only emphasized the need to vaccinate our kababayan in order to give them an added layer of protection against this disease.”

“Given the urgency of the situation, I appeal to the DOH and the IATF to adopt policies that would encourage the private sector to secure vaccines for their employees, because at this point any help the government can get in its efforts to vaccinate our people should be welcomed with open arms. In my view this should be incentivized, not discouraged.”

Abante pointed out that policies that bar private companies involved in the production of alcoholic drinks, sugared beverages, and tobacco products from procuring vaccines “appear to be counterproductive as our goal, at this point, should be to vaccinate as many Filipinos at the soonest possible time.”

“Kung makakatulong sila mag-vaccinate ng ating mga kababayan, bakit ba natin pagbabawalan? As they say in the Good Book, damn the sin, not the sinner,” stressed Abante.

The lawmaker also appealed to the DOH to revisit guidelines that require companies that import vaccines to donate a portion of their supplies to the government, as the companies may not be able to shoulder the additional costs of procuring additional vaccines for donations.

“By vaccinating their employees, these companies already contribute to our vaccination campaign. But I have received reports of companies backing out of plans to do so because they cannot afford to donate additional vaccines to government,” lamented the solon.

On Friday the DOH reported 7,999 new COVID0-19 cases, most number of new cases tallied in a single day. Abante said that anecdotal evidence––such as the increasing number of those contracting the disease among his friends and colleagues––reflect this “worrisome development.”

“Sa Kamara, ang daming empleyado nagte-test positive. In this week alone, two colleagues––Majority Leader Martin Romualdez and Anak Kalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor––also announced that they had gotten COVID-19,” said Abante.

The legislator also said that proposals to prioritize the distribution of vaccines to the National Capital Region (NCR) and neighboring areas should be studied in the wake of their rising COVID-19 numbers, but cautioned against doing so at the expense of medical frontliners in the regions.

“I understand why some health experts opine that prioritizing the vaccination of NCR residents would help protect those living in other parts of the country. But by the same token, I believe we should still ensure that all medical frontliners around the country are prioritized in vaccination efforts as they are our first line of defense against this virus.”