Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Wednesday, November 4, welcomed the appointment of Peace Process Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr as the country’s COVID-19 vaccine czar, and urged him to enlist the help of experts beyond the military.

Galvez, former military chief, is also the chief implementer of the government’s National Action Plan on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I wish General Galvez good luck on his additional assignment as vaccine czar. No mission is tougher and no stake is higher than providing vaccines for all,” Recto said in a statement.

“But that burden is too heavy for one man to bear. This is not a job for one Superman. He has to assemble his Justice League. Not just from the military, but from all sectors, especially businesses with the supply-chain expertise to regularly restock millions of stores of their products seamlessly,” Recto added.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, November 2, mentioned Galvez’s appointment as “vaccine czar” during a meeting on the government’s response to Super Typhoon Rolly (Goni). Malacañang later confirmed the appointment to reporters.

According to Duterte, Galvez will be in charge of the “purchase of a vaccine, the negotiation, manufacture, production, or distribution.”

This is alongside the formation last week of a task group to manage and distribute COVID-19 vaccines once it becomes locally available. This task group will be led by the Department of Health.

Galvez, one of Duterte’s Cabinet generals

Before all these, Recto on October 24 urged Malacañang to appoint a “vaccine czar” because obtaining and administering a COVID-19 vaccine among Filipinos would be fraught with challenges.

Issues would include selecting a vaccine to procure, whether it could be manufactured locally, the need for frozen storage for mass amounts of the product, and identifying segments of the population to be prioritized.

The government would need “a Filipino with global stature, excellent connections and diplomatic skills” to pull off the task, Recto said at the time.

Galvez is one of several former military generals in Duterte’s Cabinet. Duterte said he preferred to be surrounded by military men because they abide by the chain of command, with the President on top.

Critics have noted the need for more public health experts and scientists among officials leading the government’s response to the pandemic. Francisco Duque III, Duterte’s health secretary, has been criticized as inept and corrupt by several quarters, including a number of senators.

Recto said as vaccine czar, Galvez must collaborate.

“He is the mere conductor of an orchestra that must work in perfect symphony. Vaccine delivery is a major production involving millions of moving parts,” said Recto.

“There is the supply-to-syringe challenge of bringing 220 million doses in subzero temperatures to 110 million people in an archipelago where cold chain infrastructure is lacking,” he added.

“If he overcomes this, then on V-Day (Vaccine Day), he will receive the eternal gratitude of our race as a liberator,” the senator said. – Rappler.com