MANILA, Philippines – National Task Force(NTF) assembles all the intelligence units of the government to run after the groups or individuals who are illegally selling vaccines to the public.
“NTF is coordinating with the National Bureau of Investigation(NBI), National Intelligence Coordination Agency(NICA), Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), and Philippine National Police(PNP) to put an end to this proliferation of unauthorized vaccines”, said by Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. during an interview.
Galvez said, “The Bureau of Customs was tasked to chase the Smugglers of the COVID vaccines.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed an alarm over the proliferation of vaccines on the local market.
These people who might take an advantage of the pandemic to sell fake vaccines are all warned by Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
“We noticed this after the WHO issued a warning on the rampant availability of what we had regarded as fake vaccines,” Galvez said. For the illegal activities, NTF is looking at the 3 firms which were tagged for this activity. “There are three companies that are now subject for investigation. When we had conducted the background check, we found out that they are not authorized to distribute the vaccines,” he added.
Galvez expressed his concern for the groups that are trying to negotiate deals with some local government units (LGUs).
“The vaccines for commercial use is forbidden by The Food and Drug Administration. It is only allowed in some brands for compassionate use or for emergency utilization, BUT not FOR SALE.”
“I won’t say which vaccine, but there are three suppliers which we believe are not authorized. Their entry is somewhat spurious”, Galvez said.
