Tuguegarao City, CAGAYAN – Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said on Tuesday, February 16, that allowing local government units & private groups purchase COVID-19 vaccines directly using their own budget will expedite the country’s immunization program. Senate Bill No. 2057 or the proposed ‘COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021’ that was authored by Zubiri and several other senators was filed on Tuesday. The said bill aims to speed up the procurement process of COVID-19 vaccines by permitting LGUs to place payments in advance as high as 50% of the quantities.
“About seventy LGUs are already in negotiations with vaccine suppliers through the tripartite mechanism, and they will of course need to deposit advance payments to secure their vaccines. Otherwise, they will lose the allocation,” said Zubiri stressing that LGUs had already been inquiring about the bill.
Zubiri also added that the LGUs that intend to buy vaccines must still follow the national guidelines on COVID-19 vaccine prioritization framework and criteria drafted by the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) and adopted by the IATF. The senator has clarified that in the bill, the national government will also have to allocate an increase in funding for COVID-19 vaccine purchase intended for lower-income areas. TNF