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2M COVID-19 VACCINES
Tripartite deal with AstraZeneca to be signed Friday —Galvez
By JOVILAND RITA,GMA NewsVaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Thursday said the private sector will donate 2 million COVID-19 vaccines under a tripartite deal with British drugmaker AstraZeneca.
In a Palace briefing, Galvez, also the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said the deal is set to be signed on Friday.
“This coming Friday pipirma po tayo ng tripartite agreement na kung saan tayo po ay makakabili ng 2 million doses ng bakuna mula AstraZeneca,” Galvez said.
“Kasama po natin ang mga pribadong sektor na nag-donate nito,” he added.
Galvez said the 2 million vaccines are separate from the 20 million that the government is targeting to obtain from the manufacturer using public funds.
AstraZeneca is one of the foreign drugmakers eyeing to conduct clinical trials in the Philippines. At $5 per dose, it is offering the cheapest potential COVID-19 vaccine to the Philippines.
Galvez said the government's negotiation with AstraZeneca is still ongoing, but was optimistic about the private sector's involvement in obtaining vaccine against COVID-19 for Filipinos.
“With the partnership and mobilization of the private sector, magiging maganda po ang paglaban natin sa pandemic kasi ang mangyayari po they will co-share the responsibility,” he said.
Galvez said that the private sector will vaccinate its workers, especially those with meager salary.
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In an interview on Dobol B sa News TV, Galvez said the private sector involved in the tripartite deal are businesses under Go Negosyo.
“Maganda po ‘yun kasi darating ang panahon magkakaroon po tayo ng tinatawag na multiple access, na ‘yung public sector may concentrate on our priority sector while the private sector will concentrate in vaccinating their workers, stakeholders,” he added.
While the government will prioritize vaccinating around 30 million Filipinos, Galvez said the private sector may cover around 10 million.
AstraZeneca said on Monday its COVID-19 vaccine could be as much as 90% effective, giving the world’s fight against the global pandemic a new weapon, cheaper to make, easier to distribute and faster to scale-up than rivals.
The drug manufacturer said it will have as many as 200 million doses by the end of 2020, around four times as many as US competitor Pfizer. Seven hundred million doses could be ready globally as soon as the end of the first quarter of 2021.
Aside from AstraZeneca, the Philippine government was also in talks with Pfizer Inc and China’s Sinovac for vaccine supply deals.
So far, only Chinese vaccine Sinovac has been cleared by the government's vaccine experts panel. Sinovac, however, still needs approval from the Ethics Board and the Food and Drug Administration before it can be cleared for clinical trial or entry to the market if the vaccine is already done with its clinical trial phase. —KBK, GMA News