Philippines signs 5 term sheets, secures over 106M doses of COVID-19 vaccines

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Monday said the country has locked in 106 to 108 million doses of coronavirus vaccines after he signed five term sheets with manufacturers.

“Out of seven companies, we have already signed term sheets [with] five and we have already locked the supply of 106 to 108 [million] doses including po ‘yung sa single dose,” Galvez said in President Rodrigo Duterte’s weekly national address.

The Philippines hopes to secure a total of 146 to 148 million doses, aside from the 40 million doses to come from the COVAX Facility.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said these doses would be enough to vaccinate 76 million adults, or “more than 100% of the adult population.”

“We have negotiated for 92 million kasi po nababasa natin sa diyaryo may mga slippage, may mga delay sa delivery… to be safe, we are negotiating more than what we need [for] 70 million,” Dominguez said.

“We really expect delays pero delay is not our fault because we have the money and we’re ready. Ang delay po sa manufacturing.”

The vaccines will be procured through partnerships with institutions such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, as well as with the private sector and local government units.

“‘Pag meron na tayo, dadaan na sa kay Secretary Dominguez sa Finance, ire-review nila yan before submitting it to the Asian Development Bank pati sa World Bank. Dadaan muna sa kanya yan at baka i-submit niya he might opt to have it passed in a full vote sa Cabinet meeting,” Duterte said.

The country is in talks with manufacturers Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Janssen, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Novavax, and Gamaleya for a supply for COVID-19 vaccines. 

Over 5.6 million doses are expected to be delivered within the first quarter of the year. 

The vaccination program will begin this month with the rollout of 1 million doses. 

Galvez also said that the government was looking to vaccinate essential economic workers during the second quarter of 2021.

The Philippines has tallied 527,272 infections as of Monday afternoon. -NB, GMA News