The Department of Health is set to recommend a standard retail price for face shields, which have become more expensive since the Philippine government made them mandatory for all passengers of public transportation.
Read: Cover Up: Public transport commuters required to wear face shields from Aug. 15
In an interview today with news program Unang Hirit, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the suggested retail price (SRP) shouldn’t be more than PHP50 (US$1).
“Don’t worry about this because we made sure that the price won’t increase [and our recommendation] is based in the [commonly used] material and this is something our countrymen can buy without spending so much,” she said.
Vergeire said the Health Department had studied the best products that need to be used when making face shields.
“We conducted a small survey across the different markets of face shields here in our country, but before we did that we spoke to several experts to know what type of material should be used in making face shields to better protect consumers, our countrymen,” she said.
“We have agreed on something, and these experts told us about the materials that should be used. So with that [recommended] material, we were able to do a survey and we submitted our recommendation to the Secretary of Health [Francisco Duque] yesterday, about how much the SRP should be,” Vergeire added.
Read: Really? Duterte volunteers to take part in Russia’s COVID-19 vax trials
Meanwhile, Vergeire also clarified in the same interview that the Russian coronavirus vaccine, which President Vladimir Putin touted as “effective,” has yet to complete the final phase of clinical trials. The third and final stage in the drug development process requires giving the experimental vaccine to thousands of people to determine if they could be protected against the coronavirus.
Questions arose about its efficacy after President Rodrigo Duterte bragged in a publicly broadcast speech earlier this week that Putin agreed to supply the Philippines with the vaccine — for free. Duterte even said he was willing to participate in the clinical trial for the vax to shush his critics. The Russian-made drug, called Sputnik V, has become controversial because scientists fear that Moscow cut corners in its development.
“It still has to finish the Phase 3 clinical trial. We also need to discuss if we should have a trial here when it arrives in the country if we should be included in the Phase 3 clinical trial,” she said.
The government official assured the public that the Duterte administration has earmarked at least PHP2.4 billion (US$49 million) in the 2021 national budget to purchase a COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available. The Department of Science and Technology had predicted that a vaccine would become available in the Philippines in July 2021.
