By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri expressed support for President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement on Monday that the private sector will now be allowed to buy COVID-19 vaccines at will.
“I laud the decision of the President to allow the private sector to import and buy vaccines at will, as this will be able to assist the government’s vaccination drive to vaccinate as much of the population as possible in the quickest period of time,” Zubiri said in a statement sent to Daily Guardian.
“In fact, I introduced an amendment in the Bayanihan 2 that allows private entities to conduct research, develop, manufacture, and purchase COVID-19 vaccines sourced from registered pharmaceutical companies,” the senator added.
He said that the private sector has the resources to order the vaccines for their workforce, who can be considered economic frontliners and are important for jumpstarting the economy.
“This will also prevent anymore loss of jobs that could happen through continuous ECQ lockdowns. I’ve said time and time again that the solution to this pandemic and to push for a resurgence of our economy is through vaccination,” he added.
“Look at Israel, which has the most efficient roll-out of the vaccines in the world. Life for them has slowly gone back to normal as they have started to achieve herd immunity amongst their population.”
Thus, allowing the private sector to purchase and deliver the badly needed vaccines to their workforce will help the government achieve herd immunity for our population, he added.
“We now request the IATF to immediately come out with the guidelines to facilitate the President’s order. Once again, let me stress that aside the proper health protocols, it is only through vaccinations that we can solve this dreadful pandemic.”
