Philippines eyes January deals for 150 million COVID-19 vaccine jabs

ABS-CBN News – Posted at Dec 29 2020 03:03 PM

Healthcare specialist receives the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as Latvia begins vaccinations against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the hospital in Ventspils, Latvia Dec. 28, 2020. Ints Kalnins, Reuters

MANILA — The Philippines hopes to secure supply deals for 150 million doses of vaccines against the novel coronavirus by January, Malacañang said on Tuesday, as it rejected criticism on the pace of the government’s efforts to corner the drug.

The government is still negotiating for the vaccine supply, said Presidential and inter-agency task force on COVID-19 spokesperson Harry Roque.

“Hindi naging pabaya ang inyong pamahalaan sa bagay na ito,” he said in a virtual press briefing.

“Sabi nga po ng ating vaccine czar, hindi matatapos ang Enero next year nang hindi natin maisasara ang mga kontrata para sa 150 million doses po ng bakuna,” he added referring to Secretary Carlito Galvez, who heads inoculation efforts against COVID-19.

(Your government has not been negligent on this matter. As our vaccine czar said, January of next year will not end without us sealing contracts for 150 million vaccine doses.)

Roque did not specify with which vaccine developers the country hopes to strike a deal. Earlier though, he had said that the government was eyeing to use 4 vaccines against the novel coronavirus by the first 3 months of 2021: from Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, and China’s Sinovac, Sinopharm and CanSino.

Roque said some critics have remarked that the Philippines is lagging behind other countries that have started their mass vaccination programs against COVID-19.

“Hindi po totoo iyan. Tulad ng aking sinabi, natural lamang na mauna ang mga mayayamang bansa dahil sila po ay nagbigay ng pondo para ma-develop ang mag vaccine na iyon,” he said.

(That is not true. As I’ve said, it is only natural for rich countries to get the supply first because they gave funds so that those vaccines can be developed.)

Wealthy nations have cornered 8.15 billion vaccine jabs, he said, citing a Bloomberg report.

The Philippines hopes that its additional vaccine supply would arrive in the country in February, said Roque.

With funding from local firms, the government has so far secured 2.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by British drugs group Astra Zeneca.

However, the Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved any vaccine for emergency use, as of Tuesday.

The Philippines, as of Monday, has recorded 470,650 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 22,746 active infections, 9,124 deaths, and 438,780 recoveries.

SOURCE: https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/29/20/philippines-eyes-january-deals-for-150-million-covid-19-vaccine-jabs