Philippines to get up to 40M doses of COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX

The Philippines will receive 30 to 40 million doses of vaccines from the Gavi COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access facility or COVAX, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Thursday.

Galvez said the vaccines from COVAX were expected to arrive next month.

"Ikinagagalak ko pong ibalita na ang atin pong COVAX facility para sa Pilipinas ay naaprubahan na po. Siguro mayroon po tayong 30 to 40 million na doses for free para po sa lahat ng ating kababayan," Galvez said at a Laging Handa public briefing.

"Kaya po nagpe-prepare na po tayo, nakita po natin 'yung pinublish po na guidelines from COVAX na confirmation so magandang balita po ito," he added.

Asked what brands of vaccines would come in from the COVAX facility, Galvez said vaccines from Pfizer were likely be the first to arrive.

"Sa ngayon, wala pa po tayong definite po na vaccine na mauuna nilang ideploy. Pero most likely 'yung Pfizer, we're preparing for Pfizer," Galvez said.

Galvez said the national government was negotiating with some companies as part of its preparation for the arrival of the vaccines.

"Dahil inaasahan ang pagdating ng bakuna tulad ng COVAX, we are presently negotiating with 18 logistic companies, with four companies with ultra-cold storage capacity," Galvez said.

"Ito po ay paghahanda ng gobyerno sa mga darating na bakuna," it added.

COVAX is a 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.

It aims to ensure fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. It intends to deliver two billion doses of safe and effective vaccines to all participating countries by the end of 2021.

"Mahalaga po 'yung COVAX facility kasi nakita po natin dito 'yung vaccine na ibibigay ng WHO, UNICEF at saka ng Gavi COVAX ay libre po 'yun at saka magaganda po, tinatawag nating validated ng WHO, kasama po ang Pfizer, AstraZeneca, COVOVAX at saka Johnson & Johnson," Galvez said. -NB, GMA News