Allow local airlines to deliver COVID-19 vaccines – solon

A lawmaker from Quezon City urged the government to allow local Philippine airlines to deliver COVID-19 vaccines across the country to help them recover from the pandemic.

“I am assuming that we will get the vaccines from where they are being produced. Instead of foreign carriers, let us use local airlines to help them earn more at this time of pandemic so they would keep their employees,” Quezon City Rep. Precious Hipolito Castelo said.

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Castelo said the government could use foreign airlines if local carriers could not meet vaccine transport standards.

She cited that over 50 Boeing 777 planes are needed to import 60 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Manila.

The government would be needing the services of local carriers and other small airlines in Manila, Clark, and other regional airports once the vaccines arrive.

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“The government can help them avoid shedding more manpower [by engaging] their services in the delivery of the vaccine,” Castelo said.

In October, Philippine Airlines (PAL) said it was letting go 35 percent of its workforce, affecting 2,700 employees, as part of a plan to stay afloat during the pandemic.

Also read: Gov’t eyes lifting quarantines by Q3 of 2021 – DOH

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Allow local airlines to deliver COVID-19 vaccines – solon

In July, Cebu Pacific, the country’s largest budget airline, announced it was laying off over 800 employees.

AirAsia has also announced plans to reduce its workforce by 12 percent, or 260 workers.

Last week, Food and Drug Administration () director-general Eric Domingo said a  may be ready for distribution in the Philippines by March 2021.

Doming projected the release date a day after the United Kingdom allowed the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use.

The FDA chief added there is also information that the US FDA would issue  authorization for Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine within two weeks.

Domingo also said the COVID-19 vaccines could be available as early as January next year.

Domingo said vaccines that already secured emergency use authorization (EUA) from their country would likely be the first ones to get the same here.

Last week, President Rodrigo Duterte, through Executive Order 121, allowed the FDA to issue EUA for COVID-19 drugs and vaccines.