Senate prepares for COVID-19 vaccine hearing
January 05, 2021 09:15 AM
Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III said they are finalizing the list of invitees for the Committee of the Whole's COVID-19 vaccine inquiry this Wednesday.
“The government purchase was delayed; and when it reaches our shore, expect further delays because our FDA insists on checking it again and accrediting it even though it has been approved by the FDA of other countries."
Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III confirmed that the Senate Committee of the Whole's hearing for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout will be held this Wednesday (January 6), prior to resuming Congress' regular sessions on January 18.
According to Sotto, they will send out the invitations for the resource persons and witnesses on Monday.
“If we have not yet sent out the invitations, on Monday, when we get back to the office, we will finalize the list of invitees," he said in an interview.
“I checked those that I think should be a priority, and then they will countercheck if they want to add some more, but we can’t have two dozen people, they can’t all be able to speak, especially if we give each senator ten minutes to speak.”
Sotto said the attendees will be people who are involved in immunization or operation, specifically, officials of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
“Those involved in the IATF, the Department of Health, on issues of distribution, allocation and all those involved in the inoculation, those will be invited,” the Senate President specified.
Vaccine faces delays in the PH
“So, we will first invite those essential, important [for the hearing] and then we can set another hearing a few days after, or during the session when we already have formal sessions. That’s quite far off, given that the vaccine purchase by the Philippines was delayed," Sotto noted.
He also said he expects even more setbacks during the vaccine delivery due to FDA's examination once it arrives in the country.
“The government purchase was delayed; and when it reaches our shore, expect further delays because our FDA insists on checking it again and accrediting it even though it has been approved by the FDA of other countries."
PSG vaccinations
Sotto said a separate hearing can be called for the issue regarding the inoculation of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) with vaccines that were not cleared by the FDA. However, he mentioned that if his colleagues decide to address it during the hearing, he will not object.
“If they wish to introduce another matter, maybe during the hearing, then they could do so. But that will not be our priority agenda,” Sotto said.
The Senate leader also said that the PSG did not do anything unlawful by merely receiving unapproved COVID-19 vaccines.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong about that. There is no law that says you cannot take any medicine or vaccine that the FDA has not approved."
