By ERWIN COLCOL, GMA News
Published December 20, 2020 10:37am Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has slammed critics questioning the efficacy of available COVID-19 vaccines, saying no government will allow a defective dose developed in their own country to be injected on its people. In a virtual interview with former diplomatic reporter Malou Talosig-Bartolome on Saturday, Locsin argued that countries thrive not solely on military power but, more importantly on credibility, and distributing a faulty vaccine will make them lose their people s trust for centuries. No aspiring great power will ever, ever distribute a vaccine that they do not believe sincerely is the best. Because if they did that and it failed out there, the reputation will be destroyed for the next two, three centuries, he said.
Press Release
The early procurement of COVID vaccines amid renewed government efforts to procure them from the United States is Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson s wish for this Christmas.
Lacson also said there should be no room for incompetence and ineptitude, especially on the part of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, after the events earlier this week. My Christmas wish is simple. I hope we Filipinos survive this pandemic, and we get the needed vaccines soonest, Lacson said in an interview on DWIZ radio.
But he added the Cabinet, including vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., should help Duque not by defending him in media but by getting his job done.
Published December 20, 2020, 1:38 PM
Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go said Sunday he believes Health Secretary Francisco Duque III should take some time to explain to the public what really ensued after they failed to submit the Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement (CDA) that eventually bungled the government’s COVID-19 vaccine deal with Pfizer.
Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go
(OFFICE OF SEN. BONG GO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Go, head of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, said that while he understands Duque’s predicament on the issue, it is best for the Department of Health (DoH) chief to publicly explain his side on the issue to allay the public’s concerns regarding the availability of COVID vaccines in the Philippines.
Vice President Leni Robredo (Photo by Charlie Villegas / OVP / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
But she said she will not comment on the recent issue among Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manual Romualdez, and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
“I do not like to blame anyone because I don’t know the whole story. There are many sides of the coin,” Robredo said during her weekly radio show, but added that she has heard Duque and Secretary Carlito Galvez, the country’s COVID-19 vaccine czar, denying that there was a failure to procure vaccines from Pfizer as early as January.
Governance crisis Boo Chanco
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddyboy Locsin posted this cryptic post on Twitter last week:
“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 the World Bank and ADB to be shipped through FEDEX to Clark in January. BUT SOMEBODY DROPPED THE BALL. I have steel ball bearings. I just need a slingshot.”
It was not surprising to learn who dropped the ball… the same guy who has been mismanaging our COVID-19 response.
Remember how Duterte blamed the rich countries for our inability to get our hands on approved COVID-19 vaccines? We all know the real reason is someone in his Cabinet failed to make timely reservations.