POE: IT'S TRAGIC, CRIMINAL FOR GOV'T TO MISS CHANCE TO GET 10 MILLION VACCINES

Sen. Grace Poe expressed dismay over the government's missed opportunity to get 10 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in January that is expected to adversely affect vulnerable Filipinos.

"It's really tragic and to an extent criminal on their part for having missed the chance of acquiring 10 million vaccines... We need to vaccinate at least 60 to 70 percent of our population, which is at the minimum 70 million. And we are already getting the 10 million supposedly by January but because, again... 'yung leadership ng DOH, urong-sulong, hindi makagawa ng desisyon, hindi makapagbigay ng tamang rekomendasyon. We missed it," Poe said in an interview Friday.

"They're saying the rollout--still uncertain--will be sometime mid next year. So, that's how many months from now? People are already fatigued about all of these quarantine requirements and restrictions. The economy is already suffering. How many billions will it cost us to save the health of hundreds and to save our ailing economy?" she stressed.

The senator lamented that the hemming and hawing on the part of the Department of Health chief in securing the initial doses for the Philippines has left the country and its path to economic recovery in limbo.

"Imagine, it was acquired and our chance to get that was given to Singapore because they could act decisively and we can't," she added.

Poe said she looks forward to the convening of the Senate Committee of the Whole to hear what the Health chief and other concerned officials have to say on the country's vaccination program. She said it was just right to be transparent to the Filipinos about the government's game plan on acquiring the vaccines and ensuring that what it will give to the people is safe and effective to help control the COVID-19 spread.