DOH: COVID-19 jabs still free for poor even if health emergency lifted

Free COVID-19 vaccines will still be available for poor Filipinos even after the country's COVID-19 state of public health emergency is lifted, Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said on Tuesday.

In an ambush interview at the Philippine General Hospital, Herbosa stressed that those who could afford to buy the vaccines could acquire them from the private sector, while the government would continue to pay for those who could not.

“Magiging libre pa rin, pero syempre magiging libre siya sa mga mahihirap (it will remain free, but only for the poor). The government will not buy for everyone anymore,” the Health Secretary said.

“Naalala niyo nung EUA (emergency use authorization), it was the government that bought for everyone. That’s why ‘yung CPR (Certificate of Product Registration) was very important so that the private sector, those who could afford would pay, and your taxes will be used for the people who cannot afford,” he added.

Herbosa announced on Monday that he would recommend lifting the country's COVID-19 state of public health emergency.

This was due to his belief that the coronavirus no longer posed an emergency and could be treated as any other disease that the Department of Health (DOH) monitors, like influenza, cough, and cold.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Monday it had granted a certificate of product registration (CPR) for the Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, making the vaccines commercially available soon.

“That’s a big, big boost kasi nahirapan tayong kumuha ng (we’re having a hard time getting a) COVAX donation for bivalent. We’re negotiating about 2 million to be given, in addition to the 390,000 we got,” Herbosa said.

Since May, the Department of Health has been asking manufacturers of vaccines against COVID-19 to apply for a certificate of product registration in the Philippines should the country end the public health emergency.

This was after the World Health Organization declared the end of the COVID-19 global health emergency. — DVM, GMA Integrated News