Former vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Wednesday denied allegations that the Department of Health will not comply with the special audit of the Commission on Audit in relation to its multibillion-peso Covid-19 vaccine procurement deals.

During the motu propio hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon, Galvez said that only the CDA or confidential disclosure agreement that the government signed with pharmaceutical companies that is not allowed to be discussed in public.

"We never said that the CoA is not allowed to look at it. In fact, we refused to sign contracts with three of the manufacturers because they do not want to have the transparency and disclosure agreement with the World Bank and the ADB (Asian Development Bank)," he said.

Galvez, who was also the former chief implementer of the National Task Force against Covid-19 and vaccine czar, issued the remarks as a response to the queries of Senator Imee Marcos, who quoted CoA chair Gamaliel Cordoba when the latter faced the Commission on Appointments.

To recall, Cordoba issued a warning against the DoH that it would exhaust legal processes to require the agency to submit all documents related to the government's procurements of Covid-19 vaccines.

He also disclosed that state auditors have already sent a letter to DoH asking for necessary documents, however, then Health Secretary Francisco Duque III had said that the national government signed a non-disclosure provision with pharmaceutical companies to its contracts.