MANILA, Philippines鈥� The data showing the estimated costs of Covid-19 vaccines with Sinovac as the second most expensive had been supplied to the Senate by the Department of Health (DOH).
Senator Sonny Angara,聽 chairman of the Senate committee on finance,聽 made the clarification on Thursday amid numerous reports, citing his office as the source of the said price tags.
鈥淔or the record, those were given by the DOH 2 months ago during budget hearings in response to senators鈥� questions,鈥澛� Angara said in a tweet.
鈥淧rices may (or may not) have changed since then. Don鈥檛 shoot the messenger,鈥澛� he added.
Below is the data earlier provided to the Senate and later shared to the media by Angara鈥檚 office.
The clarification on the data source was also made a day before the resumption of the聽 Senate鈥檚 hearing into the government鈥檚 vaccination plan.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri earlier said they might hold an executive session on Friday 聽to ask officials聽 to disclose the prices of vaccines聽 the government聽 would聽 buy from other聽 countries.
鈥溾�e鈥檙e going to, in an executive session so that they don鈥檛 violate their non-disclosure agreement, we will ask them to disclose the prices of the purchase of the vaccines, 鈥榶ung amounts na babayaran [that we will pay], for transparency,鈥� Zubiri said on ABS-CBN 黑料社 Channel.
READ: 鈥楩or transparency:鈥� Senators to ask for prices of vaccines being bought by PH
The government has already secured 25聽 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine doses despite lingering questions about its efficacy and safety.
READ: Senators question vaccine deal with China鈥檚 Sinovac sans EUA application
ac