Drilon asks vaccine czar to disclose vaccine prices

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon urged vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. to disclose the prices of COVID-19 vaccines secured by the Philippine government.

Galvez warned that premature disclosure of vaccine prices could lead to the Philippines losing 148 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines due to existing confidentiality disclosure agreements (CDA) with vaccine makers.

He stated that revealing the prices would violate these agreements and jeopardize the negotiated vaccine supply, appealing to the public to respect the existing contracts.

Lawmakers, particularly on the Sinovac vaccine, are questioning why the government considered it if it reportedly cost more than other options and despite reported trial results showing it was less effective.

Galvez has kept quiet on the price, only describing it as at par with prices offered to neighboring countries, given at-cost, cheaper than US options, and "less than P700."

Aside from Sinovac, the Philippines has signed CDAs and is in the final stages of deals with Novavax, Pfizer, Moderna, Astrazeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Gamaleya.

Galvez assured transparency and accountability, noting that onerous provisions in vaccine procurement deals would not pass the scrutiny of the Department of Finance, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.