Duque issued the clarification following Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.’s earlier remark via Twitter that the government was about to secure 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer until someone “dropped the ball.”“First of all, there is no such thing as dropping the ball. If you look at the statement, the negotiations are ongoing and the DOH went to the process of iteration,” the DOH chief said in a media forum when asked about the government’s current negotiation with Pfizer.
The health secretary emphasized that the department is still reviewing the conditionalities and provisions stated in the confidentiality non-disclosure agreement of Pfizer.“I just want to make sure na di loose or disadvantageous to the government ‘yung mga provisions,” Duque explained. In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Locsin added that the purchase of the Pfizer vaccine was to be bankrolled by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank .
“That said my thanks just the same to US Sec of State Mike Pompeo we—Babe Romualdez and I—got 10 million doses of Pfizer financed by World Bank and ADB to be shipped thru FEDEX to Clark in January,” Locsin said.Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, during a briefing in Malacañang, said he has “no idea” who Locsin was referring to in his tweets.But according to Senator Panfilo Lacson, it was a Cabinet official who “keeps dropping the ball but… stays in the game.