ADVERTISEMENT“We just hope it’s not an issue of ‘kickvac’ that led to the ‘dropping of the ball’ in the vaccine procurement,” Pangilinan said. As a result of Duque’s failure, the Philippines missed the opportunity to get a COVID-19 vaccine as early as January, Lacson said. Leaning on China vaccines“President Duterte keeps talking about fighting corruption, but apparently even the vaccine procurement smells of corruption,” Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite told reporters at an online briefing on Thursday. Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said the Makabayan bloc was “very much concerned” over issues surrounding the government’s vaccine procurement program. “The reports these past days seem to show that there is pandemic profiteering on the issue of vaccine procurement,” Zarate said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer December 17, 2020 21:30 UTC