MANILA — The government should be the sole entity in buying the country's COVID-19 vaccines from now on to make procurement simpler, a member of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s private sector advisory council said Friday.

During the previous administration, private companies and local government units were able to buy COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturers with the help of the national government via tripartite deals. However, issues surfaced, leading to procurement delays.

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Government also allowed businesses to buy their own COVID-19 jabs to inoculate their employees, ahead of the reopening of the economy last year.

But for Joey Concepcion, a former Palace adviser, "I would not suggest that (tripartite deals) anymore."

The private sector can only help in the future by committing to have their employees vaccinated against the virus, as well as help in vaccination logistics, Concepcion added.

"Mas maganda na iyong mismong government ang bumili lahat ng mga bakuna... that is much simpler, where the government will be the sole importer of these vaccines and they will be the ones handling it in their respective storage," he said during a televised briefing.

"We will not do the tripartite anymore, kasi there are certain questions whether we will go under EUA or CPR (Certificate of Product Registration)," noted the official.

"I feel that I think the vaccine companies will still push for Emergency Use Authority, kasi dito sa America, EUA pa rin siya. So, with that in case, then the government is best to manage the importation and warehousing, and distribution."

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His statement also came after he urged government to buy bivalent COVID-19 vaccines, or jabs against multiple omicron variants, saying this is already available from manufacturers.

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As the pandemic rages on, vaccines can't be commercialized and these are still under emergency use authorization.

"Meaning 'yung adverse effect atsaka indemnification at talagang sa gobyerno po ang mananagot po," Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., who was the National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief, said last year.

Galvez added that local government units and private firms who wished to buy COVID-19 jabs could only do so through a tripartite agreement with the national government.

Several issues hounded the process, however, as some officials said the national government were not able to sign deals, leading to distribution delays.

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Galvez then clarified that supply and regulatory issues were among the factors on the delay of vaccine deals.

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The Philippine government allotted some P22 billion for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines under the country's fiscal spending plan next year.

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