Philippines awaits Pfizer’s counter offer on indemnity deal —Galvez

The Philippines is still awaiting American drugmaker Pfizer’s counter proposal to the indemnity agreement submitted by the government, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Thursday amid a delay in the delivery of 117,000 doses.

“‘Yung sa Pfizer, kinausap na po natin ‘yung country manager na kailangan po talaga na magkaroon kami ng bilateral agreement on indemnification clause,” he said at a press conference of Palace spokesperson Harry Roque Jr.

On Monday, the World Health Organization said the indemnification agreement from the Philippines had been received by Pfizer.

Galvez said it was not until recently that Pfizer sought an indemnity agreement for its COVID-19 vaccines.

“Para po sa kaalaman ng lahat, no’ng unang negotiation po namin, hindi po ‘yan hinihingi ng Pfizer, just only now kaya medyo nabigla po kami,” he said.

The delivery of the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech doses, expected in mid-February, remains in limbo as the Philippines and the American firm iron out the details of the indemnity agreement.

The vaccine czar earlier said the Philippines could have had the doses by now if only the country had an indemnification law in place.

“Sinabi po namin sa mga senador na importante po ‘yung indemnification clause to include ‘yung allocation ng indemnity fund para magkaroon ng confidence ‘yung lahat ng vaccine makers,” he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has certified as urgent two bills seeking to establish an indemnity fund and fast track the procurement and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

Galvez said the government will meet with Pfizer on Friday to continue negotiations for a supply of vaccines.

The Philippines has logged 553,424 infections with 512,033 recoveries and 11,577 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon. -MDM, GMA News