Galvez: 30M COVID vaccine doses secured, 60M more may follow

The Philippines has secured 30 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and may secure 60 million more this week, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said Monday.

Galvez made the statement at a Senate hearing two days after he signed a term sheet with the Serum Institute of India for some 30 million doses of the vaccine Covovax.

The Covovax vaccine is currently in the third-stage trials carried out in the United Kingdom with 15,000 subjects, as well as in the United States and Mexico with 30,000 subjects. It also underwent trials in Australia, South Africa, and India.

The vaccine is set to arrive in the country by the third quarter of 2021.

Galvez said 30 million doses are already "locked in" and may be increased by another 10 million. Another term sheet for some 60 million more doses may be signed this week, he said.

"Second, we cannot disclose all the other but we are potentially signing the term sheet of more or less another than 60 million within the week. All in all, we can secure already 100 million [doses]," Galvez said.

Galvez also said that the Philippines will get 25 million doses of a Chinese vaccine "on time."

Amid criticism that the government has taken so long to procure a vaccine, Galvez said that the first delivery of a vaccine to the country is expected on February 20.

This means, he said, that the first COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines will be in the last week of February.

"The supply and demand is very volatile. The delivery is on general terms, tinatawag na indicative dates. The indicative dates, it might fall early, or delivery will be late by one week or two weeks. Safe to say, we will be having maybe last week of February," he said.

The Philippines has allocated P73.2 billion for the procurement of the vaccines for 60 million Filipinos. Galvez, during the day's Senate hearing, said the bulk of the supply will come from US drug maker Novavax.

In the same hearing, Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III said the government has identified 4,512 fixed vaccination points in the country where COVID-19 immunization will be conducted.

Meanwhile, the private sector has committed to procuring as many as 6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, half of which will be donated to the Philippine government. —KBK, GMA News