Press Statement of Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto
Prepaid vax is OK but don't let PITC buy it

President Duterte's order to the government to prepay the COVID-19 vaccines is correct.

Vaccines are not COD goods you can order from Lazada. They are not postpaid items, but prepaid.

More so when there is a race among nations to acquire them, with the first batches already pledged to rich nations who have bankrolled their development.

There is even an Amazing Race-kind of hunt among nations for vaccines. Officials of some of our ASEAN neighbors were reported to have jetted all over the world to scour for and secure supply contracts.

One good development is that the adults in the Cabinet have gotten into the act, and I hope they will dictate the tempo and not the rank amateurs of PITC whose stint in office has so far been unblemished with success.

Kung nahihirapan ngang bumili ng suka, bakuna pa kaya?

We hope that our supply deal with AstraZeneca will push through, as their vaccine matches our wallet (reportedly the cheapest at $10 per person) and our weather (can be stored at home refrigerators).

That will cut huge expenses for a cold chain, which the Pfizer vaccine would need as they have to be stored at -80 degrees Celcius (at -50 degrees, polar bears are known to freeze to death)--the infrastructure for which this tropical archipelago does not have.

The amount mentioned so far has been for vaccines only. Not included is the cost of delivering them to the people, which would require PPEs, syringes, cold storage, post-vaccination surveillance, among others.

This means the total cost would still go up, possibly double the initial P73.2 billion quoted, more so if the other half of the country will be vaccinated.

Let us go for universal immunization. We cannot emerge out of this pandemic and recoup what we have lost if our society is divided between the Haves (may bakuna) and the Have Nots (at wala).

"Sana all" should be our fighting slogan.