Tag: Pfizer

Ping: Isyu sa Sinovac, Sana Naturuan ang Vaccine Officials na Maging Matapat

Sana naging instrumento ang kontrobersya sa Sinovac para matuto ng seryosong aral sa katapatan at walang ikinukubling transaksyon ang mga opisyales na nangangasiwa sa bakuna laban sa COVID-19.

Binigyang diin ito ni Senador Panfilo Lacson, kasabay ng pagsasabing hindi sana natuon sa Sinovac ang atensiyon ng Senado kung hindi nagpatumpik-tumpik ang mga opisyal.

“If they had been more forthright and honest in their responses in our first hearing, hindi mafo-focus sa Sinovac,” banggit ni Lacson sa panayam sa ANC.

Ayon pa sa mambabatas, palagiang handa ang dalawang kapulungan ng Kongreso na makipagtulungan sa ehekutibo kaya nararapat lamang na malaman din nila kung paano ginugugol ang mga pondong kanilang inaaprubahan.

“When the Senate hearings raised more questions than answers about Sinovac, our officials were both tongue-tied and stuttering, leaving us with a string of flip-flopping pronouncements,” bahagi ng privilege speech ni Lacson nitong Lunes.

Related: Lacson Hopes Vaccine Officials Learned Hard Lesson on Transparency
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Lacson Hopes Vaccine Officials Learned Hard Lesson on Transparency

While there is still a long way to go as far as the government’s vaccination efforts are concerned, the controversy involving COVID-19 vaccines from Sinovac should be a hard lesson on honesty and transparency for officials in the program, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said Tuesday.

Lacson said that had the officials been forthright about the conditions of negotiations with Sinovac early on, there would have been no speculations or suspicions about the matter.

“If they had been more forthright and honest in their responses in our first hearing, hindi mafo-focus sa Sinovac,” he said in an interview on ANC, stressing that while Congress – the Senate and House of Representatives – are willing partners of the executive department, in return, lawmakers “need to be informed also what happened to the appropriations we gave you.”

“When the Senate hearings raised more questions than answers about Sinovac, our officials were both tongue-tied and stuttering, leaving us with a string of flip-flopping pronouncements,” Lacson noted in his privilege speech on the issue Monday.

Related: Ping: Isyu sa Sinovac, Sana Naturuan ang Vaccine Officials na Maging Matapat
Continue reading “Lacson Hopes Vaccine Officials Learned Hard Lesson on Transparency”

Ping: Frontliners, Naghihintay Kung Kailan at Paano Mababakunahan

Image Courtesy: Bloomberg

Dapat na alam ng mga frontliner ang detalye ng vaccination plan ng pamahalaan – kung talagang may ganoong plano.

Ipinunto ni Senador Panfilo Lacson na isa ito sa pagtutuunan niya ng pansin sa pagdinig na isasagawa ng Senado sa pamamagitan ng Committee of the Whole sa Lunes.

Ayon sa mambabatas, mga frontliners ang nasa bungad ng panganib sa pagharap ng Pilipinas sa pandemya ng COVID-19 kung kaya’t tama lamang na maimpormahan ang mga ito sa mga galaw ng pamahalaan tungkol sa bakuna.

“The frontliners deserve to know because they are the ones who go to the morgues, they are the ones who attend to COVID patients. They deserve to know if they would be prioritized in the vaccination program. There is no reason for the officials concerned to ask for an executive session on this because there is nothing confidential or classified about it. Wala namang kalaban dito; ang kalaban natin dito, sakit. Hindi naman yan sasagot,” banggit ni Lacson sa panayam sa DZBB.

Related: Lacson: Frontliners Deserve to Know Details of Overall Vaccination Plan
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Lacson: Frontliners Deserve to Know Details of Overall Vaccination Plan

Image Courtesy: Bloomberg

Frontliners who have risked their lives amid the ongoing pandemic deserve to know the details of the government’s overall vaccination plan – if there is one, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said Sunday.

Lacson said this is one of the points he will pursue when the Senate Committee of the Whole holds its first hearing on the matter on Monday.

“Do we have a clear vaccination plan? Based on our conversations with doctors and frontliners, it appears we don’t. But frontliners are waiting to know when they would be prioritized in the vaccination program,” he said in an interview on DZBB.

“The frontliners deserve to know because they are the ones who go to the morgues, they are the ones who attend to COVID patients. They deserve to know if they would be prioritized in the vaccination program. There is no reason for the officials concerned to ask for an executive session on this because there is nothing confidential or classified about it. Wala namang kalaban dito; ang kalaban natin dito, sakit. Hindi naman yan sasagot,” he added.

Related: Ping: Frontliners, Naghihintay Kung Kailan at Paano Mababakunahan
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On the President’s ‘No Vaccines, No VFA’ Pronouncement

“No vaccines, no VFA!” Treating the Americans like a bunch of yokels might have sealed our fate to settle for China’s Sinovac in lieu of the US-made Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

Such a pronouncement from the President is at the very least, unfortunate. I think there could be a more diplomatic or at least a better way of asking a longtime ally to help us avail of the vaccines for our people without sounding like we are blackmailing our way into it.

What is more unfortunate is that we had a good chance to procure vaccines early from the US, but someone from our side dropped the ball, and has yet to be held accountable up to this day.

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#PINGterview: ‘Lost Opportunity’ sa COVID Vaccine

In an interview on DZXL, Sen. Lacson detailed how DOH Sec. Francisco Duque III cost the government an opportunity to acquire 10 million doses of COVID vaccines from Pfizer by January 2021.

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