The Philippine government allowed MSMEs to procure their own COVID-19 vaccines.
Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) were now allowed by the national government to procure their own COVID-19 vaccines as the COVID-19 vaccination program was slowly being opened to more priority sectors.
As obtained by the Manila Bulletin on Saturday, this was stated in a Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) jointly signed by the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 and the Department of Health (DOH) dated June 3, 2021.
The Joint Memorandum Circular was jointly signed by NTF Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
As stated in the implementing guidelines under Paragraph V Section A (1) (ii) of the JMC’s Procedures on the Procurement and Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines for Private Entities, private companies — including MSMEs — shall “submit a letter of intent to the vaccine manufacturers through the local EUA [emergency use authorization] holder” if they wished to procure their own COVID-19 vaccines.
The Joint Memorandum Circular stressed that MSMEs will have to enter into a “multilateral agreement” with the National Task Force Against COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH), and the relevant supplier of COVID-19 vaccines in procuring the jabs — which is similar to the guideline earlier set for other big private companies.
Also, the Joint Memorandum Circular said that the letter of intent should contain at least the following details:
- list and nature of the company/ies;
- number of company employees and their designated persons — including the breakdown of priority eligible population
- number of COVID-19 vaccines to be procured.
When asked whether the national government had already allowed MSMEs to buy their own COVID-19 vaccines, Galvez responded: “Yes.”
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According to Galvez, the decision was made as the national government already allowed the vaccination of economic frontliners, or those who fell under the A4 priority sector, along with healthcare workers (A1), senior citizens (A2), and people with co-morbidities (A3).
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said that the vaccination of economic frontliners will help the country’s economy to recover quickly since more protected workforce means more businesses and industries will be allowed to open.
Galvez, however, acknowledged that one of the challenges in inoculating economic frontliners was the limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines in the Philippines.
This was the reason why the national government allowed the private sector to procure their own supply of COVID-19 vaccines so that they can inoculate their own employees.
Furthermore, Galvez bared that some COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers have also started applying for the “full authorization” of their COVID-19 vaccines.
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