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Expert urges Marcos admin to 'commercialize' COVID jabs after first 100 days

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="San Juan City rolls out its second booster shots against COVID-19 for senior citizens and medical frontliners at the Vmall Greenhills vaccination site on May 20, 2022. Jire Carreon, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/tvpatrol/06/28/20220520-covid-vaccine-2nd-booster-san-juan-jvc-1.jpg"/><figcaption>San Juan City rolls out its second booster shots against COVID-19 for senior citizens and medical frontliners at the Vmall Greenhills vaccination site on May 20, 2022. Jire Carreon, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>The administration of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should &quot;commercialize&quot; COVID-19 vaccines after his first 100 days in office, a health reform advocate said Tuesday.A deadline on until when vaccines will remain free for the public would encourage more people to get booster shots, said Dr. Tony Leachon, a former adviser of the National Task Force Against COVID-19. &quot;&#x27;Yung di makakatapos ng first 100 days, then it has to be commercialized na at sino na lang ang gusto magpabakuna. &#x27;Di siya puwedeng open-ended,&quot; he told ANC&#x27;s Headstart.(For those who cannot get their shots in the first 100 days, it has to be commercialized. This should not be open-ended.)&quot;There must be a deadline for this one so the programs of the next administration in terms of economic recovery, maibabalik lahat (everything can be returned to normal), bring back our lives and normalcy.&quot;Leachon also urged the Marcos administration to end the &quot;public health emergency&quot; that would expire in September. The Department of Health earlier said it was the World Health organization that declared the pandemic as a public health emergency. The Philippines had declared a state of calamity, which was extended twice. The health agency warned that ending the declaration of the state of calamity would also terminate all emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines and medicines.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/03/22/covid-jabs-emergency-use-to-lapse-if-state-of-calamity-ends-doh">COVID vaccines&#x27; emergency use approval to lapse if state of calamity lifted: DOH</a></li></ul>Manufacturers have yet to apply for a certificate of product registration which is needed for the commercial sale of their products, the DOH earlier said.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/06/17/22/astrazeneca-to-file-covid-jab-registration-in-ph-concepcion">AstraZeneca to file COVID jab product registration in &#x27;couple of weeks&#x27;: Duterte adviser</a></li></ul>Leachon also proposed a reorganization of the inter-agency task force on COVID and urged public-private partnership.&quot;I think it’s about time you have there a host of people who have knowledge in internal medicine so that the action will be actually faster atsaka (and) more agile,&quot; he said.Health Secretary Francisco Duque III heads the task force that consults experts on various fields.

The next administration should commercialize COVID-19 vaccines after its first 100 days, a health reform advocate said Tuesday.