AGMATA, Jaymark L.

Philippine Christian University

MM Public Administration

Subject/Course: MASTER631: FISCAL ADMINISTRATION

Professor: Dr. Precila R. Bautista, LPT, MBA, MPA, DBA

PH vaccines: Adding more money to pay for hidden

price tags

Background

Just like the First World Countries, the Philippines also aims to hasten herd
immunity which is basically evident in the country’s heightened vaccination campaign. As
of August 8, 2021, over 13 million people received the first of two doses of the COVID-19
vaccine and 11.4 million have been fully vaccinated from the virus (Statista Research
Department, 2021). While these are good numbers, plenty of people still opted not to be
vaccinated because of the infodemic being feed in many social media platforms.
Nevertheless, such scenario did not stop the government in envisioning a COVID-19 free
nation.
The first set of COVID-19 vaccines arrived in the Philippines last February 28, and
the next day the country kicked off its vaccination program to help combat the pandemic.
During this time, the government prioritized frontline workers in health facilities in the
vaccination queue, with senior citizens and persons with comorbidities next in line
(Rappler, 2021).
With the scarcity of vaccines to be administered not only to medical frontliners,
senior citizens, persons with comorbidities and other priority levels, the country needs to
increase its budget for the procurement of additional vaccines. Thus, an additional 25
Billion Pesos in appropriation is being sought from Congress by Budget Secretary Wendel
Avisado to fund the Philippines’ coronavirus vaccine procurement (Baclig, 2021). While
this sounds promising in the country’s quest for a COVID-19 free nation, an increase in
budget appropriation involves a lot of sacrifices that will be faced by the entire populace.

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Statement of the Problem

The main problem that the article is presenting are the following;

• What is the reason for the additional charges in the price tags of the
vaccines?

This additional charges in the price tags of the vaccines are to be paid using the
people’s taxes. As tax payers, the people have the right to demand for
transparency. As Drilon puts it, “The people need to know how much has been
spent and where it was spent. There must be transparency in spending. This is the
people’s money. We borrowed this money” (Baclig, 2021).

• Why there exist a discrepancy when it comes to the prices of the different
vaccines?

Such discrepancy for an instance happened because of the varying prices of

Coronavac. With all of these, it is still unclear how much these different vaccine
doses purchased by the Philippines costs, nor how much of the allotted budget
had already been utilized for the procurement of vaccine supplies.

Objectives

• To educate the people that vaccination is key to herd immunity

• To inform the populace regarding the vaccination campaign launched by the
government.
• To know the plans of the government, particularly, its budget allotment for the
procurement of vaccine supplies.
• To elucidate the importance of transparency in strengthening public thrust.

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Basic Assumption/s

There are a lot of assumptions one could derived from the article, nonetheless, I
wish to focus my attention in regards to the government’s move to speed up the
vaccination campaign while practicing transparency in expenditures at the same time, not
violating the non-disclosure agreement between its Pharmaceutical firm counterparts.
These are important assumptions because the budget that will be utilized in the
vaccination campaign was taken from the taxes of the people. As tax payers, the people
have to be informed with transparency on the utilization of the budget being taken from
the taxes they have paid. This will not only encourage people to pay their taxes religiously,
but above all, it would ensure public confidence.
With this, an existence of incessant opposition and intrigue to non-disclosure
agreement will no longer be a problem because, the people are ensured that the
government will not take advantage on the price tags of the vaccines.

SWOT Analysis

• Strengths

i. Budget Increase for the Procurement of Vaccine Supplies

ii. 4.5 trillion pesos national budget for 2021 which has a 72.5 billion pesos
appropriation for vaccines. 2.5 billion pesos of this is with the Department
of Health (DOH) while 70 billion pesos is in unprogrammed appropriations
to be funded by foreign borrowings and excess revenue. Another 10 billion
pesos earmarked for vaccines by the Bayanihan 2 law.
iii. The government assures the public that prices will be fair and properly
assessed for whichever brands of vaccine will be procured

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• Weaknesses

i. Additional charges for Vaccine’s Price Tags are unclear

ii. Unclear and non-transparent accounting of budget being utilized and to be
utilized
iii. Impossibility of price revelation (company price) since it is covered under
non-disclosure agreement between the PH Government and
Pharmaceutical Firms.

• Opportunities

i. Additional Vaccine supplies would mean additional people to received

vaccination.
ii. As of June 12, the country has already received over 12 million doses of
COVID-19 vaccines.
iii. Around 8,684,060 doses were already distributed nationwide as of June 7.
A total of 6,314,548 have been administered so far. Some 4,632,826
Filipinos already got their first dose while 1,681,722 have already
completed their required doses.

• Threats

i. Disclosure of the exact price of the vaccines would endanger the contract
between the Government and Pharmaceutical Firms
ii. Additional loans would mean additional burden not only to the government
but to the people in particular.
iii. The government needs to be more transparent about the vaccine prices to
strengthen public confidence in the country’s vaccine rollout. Without
transparency, a decrease in public thrust is a necessary consequence if not
an effect.

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Alternative Course of Actions

Since proposing a new budget appropriation is not enough to procure as many

vaccines to ensure that different sectors in the society will have an equal access to free
vaccination. The PH Government borrowed money through loans to banks such as World
Banks, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Asian Development Bank to fund
additional vaccine supplies.
This alternative course of actions is crucial because loans entail future payments
and interests, nevertheless, the Government in doing so cannot also throw out additional
more taxes to people, especially, that all of us are still suffering from the economic
imbalance brought by the Pandemic. The government I think is left with the last available
resort it could have and that is to borrow fund from big institutions and banks. Yes, such
move would put the country in an outstanding and stargazing debts, but this will also help
the country survive the impeding threat of the pandemic.

Recommendation

Learning from the mistakes of the past, I personally would like to recommend that
the government should pay attention to the healthcare system of the country. COVID-19
Pandemic’s dawn could be a beginning of much worse pandemic in the future. A lot of
government funds were poorly utilized. Hence, there is a need to check budget
allocations. At the same time, there is also a need to observe transparency when it comes
to expenditures and honesty on the part of those who are on top.
Moreover, the government should be an epitome of justice and fairness. It’s a sad
scenery seeing ordinary people punished because of transgressing health and safety
protocols while some government officials were seemingly free in violating without being
punished. Furthermore, the government should provide programs that would create
employment, since, scarcity of jobs is as evident as scarcity of vaccine supplies. Lastly,
the government through the legislative branch should enact laws that would spare us from
future catastrophic scenarios (Similar to Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s Senate Bill No.
1573).

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Conclusion

The dawn of vaccination like that of the pandemic did not escape the prying eyes
of controversy since its invention up to its administration. Meanwhile in the Philippines, a
good number of people were already vaccinated while others remain indecisive.
Nonetheless, this did not bar the PH government to launch its vaccination campaign.
Such campaign is evident in the government’s move to vaccinate as many as possible.
To achieve such lofty aim, there is a need also to make vaccines available. We cannot
simply rely from the donations of other countries. With the availability of vaccines to be
procured in some pharmaceutical firms, a problem of additional charges and discrepancy
in price existed. As a Filipino Citizen, I have to admit that this scenario is alarming as it is
prone to mishandling of funds and corruption. As tax payers, we cry for transparency.
However, the government only assures the public that prices will be fair and properly
assessed for whichever brands of vaccine will be procured. I hope that such assurance
is seriously taken.
On a personal note, the article has opened the eyes of the people that the
government despite some controversies and setbacks have concrete plans to end this
pandemic and that is through vaccination. But such plan could also be susceptible to
corruption because it involves a lot of funds, taken from the taxes of the people and loans
from big institutions and banks. The article has also given us important figures about the
prices of the vaccines although limitations occurred because of the existence of non-
disclosure agreement between the PH government and the Pharmaceutical firms.
Lastly, it is our hope not to repeat the mistakes of the past, such mistake is not
being ready for a possible heath crisis to happen. A concrete action that we need to do is
to revisit our budget allocations. If there’s a need to increase taxes, let it be as long as it
would not make the poor poorer and rich richer. At the same time, the government through
the congress and senate should enact laws that would protect us from the future
catastrophic event that may come.

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Action Plans (Time Table)

Action Plan Time Table

1. Vaccination Campaign to achieve February-December 2021
Herd Immunity
2. Creation of Job Opportunities Long Term Goal August 2021-Future
3. Strengthening of Health Care Long Term Goal August 2021-Future
System
4. Exercise Properly the Right of Every Election Day
Suffrage
5. Revisit Budget Allocations Urgent
6. Enact Laws similar to Senate Bill Urgent
No. 1573 or the “Pandemic and All-
Hazards Preparedness Act” by the
late Miriam Defensor-Santiago

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References

Cristina Eloisa Baclig. 2021. PH vaccines: Adding more money to pay for hidden price
tags. Retrieved from https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1446074/ph-vaccines-adding-
more-money-to-pay-for-hidden-price-tags. Accessed: August 02, 2021.

Statista Research Department. 2021. Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination rollout in the

Philippines 2021. Retrieved from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1236727/philippines-coronavirus-covid19-
vaccine-rollout/. Accessed: August 11, 2021.

TRACKER: The Philippines’ COVID-19 vaccine distribution. April 01, 2021. Retrieved
from https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/data-documents/tracker-covid-19-
vaccines-distribution-philippines. Accessed: August 11, 2021.

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