Main volume of COVID-19 vax supply to come from Novavax —Galvez

The bulk of the COVID-19 vaccines that will be available in the Philippines will be the ones developed by US drug maker Novavax, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez said on Monday.

"Our main volumes will be coming from Novavax with 30 to 40 million doses," Galvez said in a Senate Committee of the Whole hearing.

Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine, Covovax, will be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), which the Philippine government recently inked a term sheet with.

"[For] Pfizer, we are negotiating for higher volumes more or less 40 million and Astrazeneca 25-30 million doses, and Sinovac and Gamaleya for 25 million each," he added.

The vaccine rollout against COVID-19 in the country can start as early as the first quarter of 2021, but the bulk of the supply will be available in the latter part of the year.

"It is expected that we can start our rollout this first quarter in February, with an early rollout possibly by the Covax vaccine either by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, J&J, or the Sinovac," Galvez said.

"We might be receiving more or less 40 million doses from Covax for 20-30 million people," he added.

Covax is the globally-pooled vaccine procurement and distribution effort co-led by the World Health Organization, the Gavi vaccine alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

"The main bulk of the vaccines that will be rolled out will be at the third quarter and fourth quarter of this year," Galvez said.

Lion's share

Galvez also said 80% of global supply of the vaccine have already been cornered by rich countries, and that the Philippines and other poor countries "are now trying our best to negotiate with different vaccine companies to get a fair share of the vaccines for the remaining 18% of the global supply."

He said the country may experience "some sort of shortfall" in the second or third quarter of 2022 due to "restrictions" in the supply chain. 

For his part, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the Philippine government has identified a total of 4,512 fixed vaccination points in the country where COVID-19 immunization will be conducted. 

Each vaccination team will be composed of six workers—a physician, nurse or midwife who will be in charge of screening and assessment; one allied professional or volunteer for health education; a doctor, nurse, or midwife who will vaccinate; and two health workers or volunteers from partner agencies who will be tasked for documentation and taking of vital signs.

"Sisikapin ng ating bawat vaccination team na makapagbakuna ng 100 pasyente po sa isang araw," he said during the hearing. —AOL/KBK/RSJ, GMA News