Major vaccine rollout in third, fourth quarter —Galvez

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Wednesday night said the government will be able to conduct a major rollout of vaccines against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the third and fourth quarter of the year.

“Ang main volume po ng ating mga procurement atsaka ‘yung sa COVAX ay darating po ng third quarter atsaka fourth quarter,” Galvez said in his report to President Rodrigo Duterte.

“So ‘yung ating planning po sa ating vaccination, ang major rollout po talaga natin will be coming from the third quarter and fourth quarter,” he added.

Galvez said they are negotiating with manufacturers for early delivery.

“Nag ne-negotiate din po tayo kahit mapamahal ng kaonti, basta ma-early delivery lang po sila ng second quarter atsaka po nung first quarter. Ayun po ‘yung ginagawa nating technique, ino-offset po natin price. Dadagdan po natin ‘yung prices para mapaaga po,” he said.

The vaccine czar said the Philippines will receive 161 million doses by the end of 2021.

According to Galvez, 17 million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca were also secured in the tripartite agreement with the private sector and the local governments.

He said three more agreements are being polished in terms of the indemnification and terms of delivery.

The delivery of vaccines to the country has been delayed due to the lack of an indemnification fund law. There are still no COVID-19 vaccines that have been legally brought to the Philippines.

The Philippines has reported a total of 566,420 cases, of which 523,321 have recovered and 12,129 have died. — BM, GMA News