Amazing Jing for Life: Encouraging competitive bidding for largest DOH vaccine procurement to avoid another vaccine scare

Dr. Lulu Bravo, Executive Director of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination (middle) and Atty. Tom Syquia, former Executive Director of Procurement Service-PhilGEPS during the open discussion for competitive bidding for largest DOH vaccine procurement to avoid another vaccine scare for the Filipinos.

Have you ever imagined if there will be another "vaccine scare" among us, Filipinos? We are all aware that there were some cases of Poliomyelitis reported last year. You see, when the population is fully immunized with both oral polio vaccine and inactivated polio vaccine, this kind of transmission cannot take place. The gut immunity in people immunized with oral polio vaccine stops the virus from being passed on. Full immunization therefore protects against both vaccine-derived and wild polio viruses.

Pneumonia is an infection that inflames air sacs in one or both lungs, which may fill with fluid. According to the American Lung Association, anyone can get pneumonia. It’s commonly a complication of a respiratory infection—especially the flu—but there are more than 30 different causes of the illness. In the Philippines, 57,809 pneumonia deaths were reported in 2016, nearly 10 percent of 582,183 registered deaths in 2016. This made pneumonia the 3rd top killer behind ischemic heart disease and cancer.

So imagine the scenario if there will be another vaccine scare... morality rate for each disease will increase, we will not be able to get the feeling of security that we are safe, that our country is a safe and happy place to live in.

That is why, during the public health forum participated by Dr. Lulu Bravo, Executive Director of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination and Atty. Tom Syquia, former Executive Director of Procurement Service-PhilGEPS, held at the Manila Hotel last Wednesday, January 22, 2020, they both suggested and is strongly encouraging a push toward more competitive bidding to regain public confidence in vaccines, this was also coming from both public and private sectors.

“It's always best to have a public bidding, because competition will give you the best price. It is transparent,” noted Tom Syquia, former Executive Director of Procurement Service- Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PS-PhilGEPS). “You get the same quality but at the lowest price. It's always best for the public if you have competition,” he added.

Atty. Tom Syquia talk about competitive bidding for largest DOH vaccines

The budget for pneumonia vaccines alone is P4.9 billion, allotted for Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines (PCVs), which aim to guard against Invasive Pneumococcal Diseases (IPDs), the largest cause of death for Filipino children under five.

Currently, there are two vaccines available for the government to procure during the next budget allocation, PCV 10 and PCV 13, two vaccines that global health experts claim are comparable in performance.

In February 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) reaffirmed an earlier position saying that the two available PCVs are equally effective in preventing overall pneumococcal diseases in children. The position paper also states that there is at present insufficient evidence of a difference in the net impact of the two available PCVs on overall disease burden.

“The WHO has already come out saying that there’s really no difference between the two,” said Dr. Lulu Bravo, Executive Director of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination, when discussing the efficacy of the two PCVs. “Many developing countries have already procured PCV 10.”

Similarly, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) in its own study said that available evidence to date indicates significant impact of both PCV10 and PCV13 in the outcomes studied, with no evidence of the superiority of one vaccine over the other on pneumonia, Invasive Pneumococcal Diseases (IPD), or meningitis hospitalization reduction in children under 5 years old.

What type of vaccines should we really acquire or for the children to have in order to avoid such dreadful diseases? Listen to Dr. Lulu Bravo's answer.

In turn, the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), in their 2017 PCV product assessment which was based on a comprehensive review of published data, also declared that current evidence does not indicate an added benefit with one vaccine over the other.

Syquia highlighted that the competitive bidding process should be accompanied by the scrutiny and recommendation of legitimate health experts, which would help allay concerns over whether the procured vaccine has carefully been studied or not.

“The first thing to ask is, what is appropriate for the Philippines? How many manufacturers make PCV13? How many PCV10?” said Syquia. “You need a decision on an expert level. What product do we need? Then it will dictate the modality of the procurement.”

Even when the procurement process is transparent, there is a danger in the way it is implemented, claimed Syquia. The bid posted by the government is required to list specifications regarding the item to be procured. It is possible to “tailor-fit” the bid by listing specifications that unnecessarily cut other options out, making it difficult to protect the sanctity of the contract.

“Do we need a PCV10? If that is sufficient, and has multiple suppliers, why would you go for 13 if there is only one (supplier)?” he said.

There is also a concern among health experts that the resurgence of diseases and the potential exacerbation of currently prominent sicknesses, like pneumonia and meningitis, will become a larger problem should the public's fear towards vaccines continues to persist.

Experts believe that vaccine confidence is a critical issue, especially since pneumonia is a very common disease in children here and abroad. Of the hundreds of countries in the world, the Philippines is included in the top 15 countries in terms of pneumonia deaths, and those 15 countries are responsible for 75% of all deaths from pneumonia.

“In the last year or so we had so many outbreaks. Since 2018, nawala ang vaccine confidence ng Pilipinas. Isa tayong country na naging number one anti-vaccine country in the world,” said Dr. Bravo, “The vaccine confidence of 93% in 2015 plunged to 30 percent in 2018.”

“Patients, people, and the community, would drive away the healthcare workers. They were being stoned, they were being driven away, and were even called child-killers,” she added.

In an earlier statement, the DOH pointed to vaccine hesitancy, or the refusal of vaccines despite availability, as one of the reasons for the recent measles outbreak in some regions of the country.
In order for this not to happen again, Dr. Lulu Bravo also highly recommends...

If I may also include the latest international "scare" that we are all experiencing...what I'm saying is the nCoV or Novel Corona Virus that's been spreading globally, like that of SARS and MERS before.

It has been known that this dreadful disease originated from Wuhan, China. Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. You see, if we all practice healthy living and that we have also submitted ourselves to every vaccine shots applicable and possible for us, we have some sort of protection for ourselves. So please, we are appealing to all sectors, organizations and and officials concern to please do your job properly and don't be selfish. If being unselfish and giving concern to our fellowmen would practically save us from all these, then please give what is due for the people, most especially concerning health matters.

Thank you for reading and the continued support amazing peeps! Please do take care of yourselves and your loved ones. May we all successfully surpass all these... "Til our next!