Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Tuesday that the Philippines was supposed to get 10 million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, but “somebody dropped the ball.”
“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 World Bank and ADB to be shipped thru FEDEX to Clark in January,” Locsin said.
“But somebody dropped the ball. I have steel ball bearings. I just need a slingshot,” he added.
After claiming that someone made a mistake, Locsin was asked by GMA News’ Joseph Morong if the Philippines may no longer access Pfizer vaccines.
Locsin, apparently referring to vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said: “General Galvez is ordering. He is our savior. Note that he is a general. The generals are getting things done.”
Meanwhile, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a news conference that he had “no idea who dropped the ball.”
Countries like the United Kingdom and the US already approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for local use after its final trials showed it was 95% effective, with no serious side effects.
“Ang problema, gustuhin man natin ang Pfizer, eh wala naman tayong makuha para sa first quarter,” Roque said.
“Ang tina-target ng delivery ng Pfizer na hindi pa natin alam kung ilan ay sa second at sa third quarter. At maraming hindi na makakaantay ng second to third quarter,” he added.
World’s richest nations already bought 80% of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine
Last month, an analysis of a UK campaign group said the richest countries in the world already bought over 80 percent of US pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s potential COVID-19 vaccine.
The Global Justice Now analysis showed that rich governments already purchased more than 1 billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine. These nations represent only 14 percent of the global population.
“The U.S. has purchased 100 million doses with an option to buy 500 million, enough to potentially immunize its entire population against the coronavirus with hundreds of millions of doses left over. Since Monday, Pfizer has also sold 40 million doses to the U.K. and 200 million doses to the E.U., with an option to buy 100 million more,” Julia Conley reported in WallStreetWindow.