The Philippine government has 'dropped the ball again,' this time, the chance to obtain 50 million syringes from the United States, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.
In a Twitter post, Locsin revealed that the government agencies refused to discuss the matter.
"Discussed the need in Washington DC and got a response prepared to go into details with PH agencies but they refused to discuss the ball let alone catch it. First Pfizer, then Moderna. Ok, I see the pattern," he wrote.
This is not the first time that the country missed this kind of opportunity.
In December 2020, Locsin bared that the government missed out on a chance to secure 10 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine because “someone dropped the ball.”
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III then defended himself from the accusations, saying that the required confidentiality disclosure agreement (CDA) with Pfizer was originally intended to be signed by the Office of the President (OP) and not the Department of Health (DOH).
The Philippines only started its inoculation in March 2021.
Earlier, Health Undersecretary and National Vaccination Operations Center chairperson Myrna Cabotaje said there was a sufficient supply of syringes for COVID-19 vaccines until the end of the year.
