The corruption and incompetence of the Philippine government has been a constant topic of conversation among Filipinos since time immemorial . After more than a year since the Philippines was placed under lockdown ,

Filipinos have witnessed how selfish the government can be in the midst of crises . The ineptitude and shameful acts of the government began right before the pandemic started , with the PhilHealth scandal and the Pastillas scheme . From endless interviews of whistleblowers to news of VIP testing and treatment , it is truly evident that political interest and greed are at play .

It was a glimpse of hope for Filipinos back in February when “ Vaccine Czar ” Carlito Galvez Jr . announced that COVID-19 vaccines would arrive in mid- February . There were numerous vaccine delivery simulations in order to show that the government was ready for the vaccination program , and the only piece left for the perfect plan was the vaccines themselves .

Vaccines were supposed to arrive a month earlier , however Department of Health ( DOH ) Secretary Francisco Duque infamously dropped the ball when he failed to submit a confidentiality document for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine , in order to obtain over 10 million doses of the vaccine .

A month later , over 25 million Sinovac vaccines were secured for delivery . The problem was that the Sinovac vaccines have a lower efficacy rate than other vaccines - in fact , it has one of the lowest efficacy rates out

of all the available vaccines , at only 50 % efficacy .

Simply discounting Sinovac might be a solution for most , however , other available vaccines also have issues . For example , the AstraZeneca vaccine is known to have a 90 % efficacy rate , yet it has one deadly side effect : blood clotting . Several countries in Europe have halted the use of AstraZeneca , but in the Philippines , AstraZeneca continues to be administered to people under 60 years old .

While the government was practicing the vaccination simulation , “ Vaccine Czar ” Galvez forgot to raise the importance of the allocation fund in the 2021 budget deliberation . As such , lawmakers were frustrated when they were informed only during the vaccination negotiation phase , months after the 2021 budget deliberations .

Even though the vaccination program is not yet finished , it is evident that the inaction and corruption still linger in times of crisis . From vaccination delays to vaccine overpricing , it is truly unfortunate to see a story of despair rather than a story of hope .

One thing is certain - the glimpse of hope is a pipe dream for Filipinos , for now .

VACCINES