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The IATF is not running a tight ship ... could use the synonym “loose” to describe the quality of thought and logic of the country’s top leaders. That ball was dropped from up there and higher. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-14/philippines-duterte-to-prioritize-china-russia-vaccine-offers 3 mos after Pfizer approached but CDA not the issue here https://twitter.com/drtonyleachon/status/1340109781231521793
Rappler has good report on convoluted procedures. Hardly a fan of Duque but IATF hand seen here https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/why-did-duterte-government-take-months-sign-covid-19-vaccine-deal-pfizer Duque often falls in step with the boss — who refuses to criticise him, eh?
Related to Duterte initially slamming western firms in Sept for seeking advance payment, the President eventually backtracked from stance in Nov. This is a Nov 19 story https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-philippines-vaccin-idUSKBN27Z0YP
Nov 24 na — The Philippines aims to come up with P73.2 billion ($1.5 billion) to pay for the COVID-19 vaccinations of 60 million Filipinos, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said in a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, November 23. https://www.rappler.com/nation/philippines-targets-covid-19-vaccine-fund-60-million-filipinos
Galit pa Malacanang because: Robredo's camp said there seemed to be “no sense of urgency” in the COVID-19 inoculation; Sen. Franklin Drilon said out of the P72.5 B allotted for vaccines in the national budget, only P2.5 B guaranteed. Dec 14 story https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/14/20/philippines-ready-to-take-more-loans-to-fund-covid-19-vaccine
Dec 17: PH eyeing 4 vaccines against COVID19 virus by the first 3 months of 2021, per Malacañang, but country has yet to receive emergency vaccine use applications.
The 4 vaccines from Russia and China pa din. Shared from ABS-CBN News Mobile App https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/17/20/philippines-eyes-4-coronavirus-vaccines-in-first-quarter-2021
The 4 vaccines from Russia and China pa din. Shared from ABS-CBN News Mobile App https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/17/20/philippines-eyes-4-coronavirus-vaccines-in-first-quarter-2021
So, even w bribery shadow, it’s still a go with Sinovac. Roque says problem is “supply” — Mas close ang indonesia sa China? Dec 10 https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/10/20/despite-bribery-claim-chinas-sinovac-still-philippines-first-covid-19-vaccine-pick-palace
Indonesia has received 1.2 m doses. Another 1.8 m doses expected in Jan 2021... followed by raw materials to produce 30 million doses of the vaccine same month. That’s because Indonesia has been testing in late-stage clinical trial since August. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-covid-19-vaccines-sinovac-china-1-2-million-13769352
Same news outfits, Dec 14... “targets deal” pa din tayo. With Sinovac yan ha. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/covid-19-philippines-sinovac-vaccine-deal-target-25-million-13769794?cid=h3_referral_inarticlelinks_24082018_cna
The thing with Indonesia is, their process of testing seems to be transparent, even to extending time frame of late state clinical trials (Dec 15) http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/12/15/bpom-to-extend-monitoring-stage-of-sinovac-vaccine-trial-for-next-three-months.html
I won’t dismiss Chinese vaccines outright, considering logistics needs for mass distribution. Concerns about transparency are legitimate though reports also say China has submitted to peer review. As for those CDAs, Indonesia seems to be fairly open about clinical trials.
All big pharma, Western or Eastern have spotty records here and there. China isn’t the only country using the health card in high stakes geopolitical games. Everyone looks out for number one. More concerned with how Duterte govt navigates all these. That’s where problem lies.
