BY MARTIN A. SADONGDONG
The national government is close to completing negotiations with at least four international companies for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, Secretary Carlito Galvez, chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 and the country’s vaccine czar announced Tuesday.
He said the earliest deal could be inked by the end of this month.
He said the government is in talks with British vaccine-maker Astrazeneca, China’s Sinovac, and the tandem of US-based biotechnology companies Pfizer and Germany-based BioNTech.
“Nag-ne-negotiate na po tayo sa apat na malalaking kompanya kasama na po ang Sinovac from China, ‘yung AstraZeneca, at saka po ‘yung Pfizer,” Galvez told President Duterte in a televised Cabinet meeting on Monday night.
According to Galvez, the vaccine deal with AstraZeneca is closest to completion.
He said an advance commitment could be made by November 30 for the supply of 20 million doses of their product.
Once AstraZeneca’s vaccine becomes available in the market, the delivery of the country’s supply is set to commence on the second quarter of 2021.
“Nakita natin ang AstraZeneca (vaccine) po, maganda po dahil non-profit at saka pinakamababa po ang kanyang presyo, more or less five dollars lang (per dose),” he said.
On the other hand, the negotiation with China’s Sinovac is being expedited through the intervention of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
Galvez said the deal could be achieved through a G2G [government-to-government] financing.
Meanwhile, the deal with Pfizer and BioNTech is also ongoing with local officials in talks with the country representatives of the two international companies.
“Just in case makuha po natin ito, makakabuo po tayo ng 60 million (doses) next year, Galvez said.
Currently, the government’s vaccine expert panel (VEP) is analyzing 17 potential vaccines, of which nine are already in the Phase 3 trial.
Phase 3 trial involves the inoculation of a wide number of people to test the vaccine’s efficacy.
Of the nine vaccines that are in the advanced stages of trial, five are expected to conduct clinical trials here in the Philippines, Galvez said.
These are Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson’s Hansen, Russia-based Gamaleya, and China’s CanSino. (Martin A. Sadongdong)
