The House committee on appropriations approved in principle the bills that would empower local government units (LGUs) to buy coronavirus vaccines straight from manufacturers without holding public bidding.

On Thursday, February 11, the panel agreed to approve the soon-to-be consolidated version of the two House bills (HBs) seeking to give this authority to LGUs, but subject to further amendments that legislators are still finalizing.

This means the consolidated version would still need to be formally approved by the committee before the bill can be sponsored in the House plenary for debates. 

Still, this will just become a formality since the appropriations committee already agreed to support the bill in the spirit of speeding up the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines for Filipinos.

The two measures include HB No. 8648 filed by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, and House Minority Leader Stephen Paduano, and HB No. 8649 filed by Quirino Representative Junie Cua. 

Both bills would authorize LGUs to directly buy from manufacturers the COVID-19 vaccines as well as other supplies and equipment needed for their distribution and storage even without holding public bidding.

LGUs, however, would only be allowed to purchase COVID-19 vaccines that have already been registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or have been issued emergency use authorization (EUA).

So far, only the vaccines created by Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca have secured EUAs from the FDA. 

The two bills would grant this additional power to LGUs during the state of calamity and public health emergency that was declared due to COVID-19 or until September 12, 2021 – that is unless President Rodrigo Duterte lifts the state of emergency or extends it.

Senators have also suggested that health officials allow LGUs and private groups to deal directly with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers. 

Various LGUs have started announcing that they have set aside funds or have signed deals with vaccine companies to secure supply of the scarce good for their respective localities. 

But one requirement in the deals was to involve the national government, similar to tripartite deals entered into by private groups. 

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr told senators, however, that allowing LGUs and private groups to directly buy COVID-19 vaccines is not yet possible. 

This is because “no company” would engage in deals that did not involve national governments of other countries, which have only been granting emergency use approvals to COVID-19 vaccines.

To date, COVID-19 has infected 543,282 people in the Philippines with 11,469 deaths and 500,335 recoveries. – Rappler.com