Philippines yet to sign supply agreement with any vaccine manufacturer —Galvez

The Philippines has yet to finalize the supply agreement with any COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer, which will ensure the delivery of the vaccines to the country, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Thursday.

During a Senate panel hearing, the country's vaccine czar said the government is still finalizing the supply agreement with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers Sinovac, Novavax, and Moderna.

"Yung tatlo na yun ang fini-finish namin na supply agreement, but no supply agreement is finished yet," he said.

Galvez said what he has signed so far was a "term sheet" for 50,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines expected to arrive on February 20, while they are arranging the same document for the donated 600,000 doses of the same brand coming on February 23.

"The firm agreement that we have is through the term sheet. So we have more or less 108 million doses that we have been negotiating," he said.

The absence of a final supply agreement for any COVID-19 vaccine alarmed Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon.

"How can we say that there are deliveries without the supply agreements?" Drilon asked.

"Are we saying that those term sheets will obligate manufacturers to deliver the amounts stated on the term sheets on a particular date?" he added.

Galvez, in response, said that the term sheets will push through "until we finish the supply agreement."

"We have some sort of an agreement that we have already locked the supply. There is already a commitment to have the supply agreement discussed within this week or next week," he added.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III also confirmed that the government has yet to sign any supply agreement with vaccine manufacturers.

"The February 23rd arrival of the Sinovac vaccines will amount to about 600,000. So ito pa lang so far ang mga indicative volumes that will be used for our initial rollout. But in terms of supply agreement, there has been no signed supply agreement," he said.

The Philippines targets to inoculate 50 to 70 million individuals within the year, and an estimated 50,000 is expected to be vaccinated in February.

According to the government's vaccination roadmap, health workers and frontliners from select government offices will be the first to receive the vaccine, followed by indigent senior citizens, other senior citizens, and other indigents.—LDF, GMA News