Palace sees delivery of Pfizer, Gamaleya vaccines in February

Vaccines developed by Pfizer and Gamaleya Research Institute may be delivered to the Philippines next month, Malacañang said Thursday, as it assured the public that there is no favoritism in the procurement of the potentially life-saving doses.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said a small volume of vaccine will come from Pfizer. He did not disclose the number of doses that will be sourced from Gamaleya, which developed the Sputnik V vaccine.

Roque earlier said only vaccine doses from China’s Sinovac would be available for Filipinos until June at the earliest because the Western brands were not immediately available.

“Hindi naman ibig sabihin na palibhasa papasok na ang Sinovac sa Pebrero, titigil na tayo ng effort na makaangkat pa ng ibang bakuna galing sa ibang mga manufacturers,” Roque said at a news conference.

“So pagdating po ng Pebrero, hindi lang 50,000 [doses mula sa] Sinovac ang available.”

Roque said only the vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be used in the mass inoculation program. So far, only Pfizer received an emergency use authorization for its vaccine.

"Uulitin ko po, wala tayong favoritism," Roque said.

Gamaleya and Sinovac’s EUA applications remained pending before the FDA. Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Wednesday that Sinovac’s EUA application will be approved before February 20. — RSJ, GMA News