Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera called on the government to start allocating funding for the procurement of vaccines to treat the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) as human trials are underway. The lawmaker made the appeal after the recent announcement that a joint research of pharmaceutical companies United States-based Pfizer and German-based BioNTech has begun human trials and if successful, would be ready later this year. “Human vaccine trials for Covid-19 are underway. With global efforts poured in, vaccines will be developed soon,” Herrera said. The lawmaker also proposed that vaccines administered by government health personnel and hospitals must be given free of charge and fully subsidized by the government as she expected vaccination in private hospitals would likely be at cost with partial PhilHealth coverage.
