Dizon: 117,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines under COVAX arriving in April

Some 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 that are part of the COVAX Facility will be arriving in the Philippines by April, according to National Task Force Against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon on Wednesday.

Dizon was referring to the Pfizer-BioNTech doses that the government initially announced to be arriving in February but were eventually delayed due to lack of an indemnification law in the Philippines and also to logistical problems.

“Ang commitment ng WHO (World Health Organization), darating itong 117,000 doses ngayong Abril. Malaking bagay po ito sa ating mga health workers na priority nating matapos [na mabakunahan] hanggang sa buwan ng Abril at Mayo,” Dizon said during the Laging Handa public briefing.

At least 1.12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Sinovac and AstraZeneca have been delivered to the country so far. The Sinovac vaccines were donated by China while the AstraZeneca vaccines were also part of the WHO-led COVAX Facility.

Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines are given in two doses.

The country’s COVID-19 vaccination program started last March 1, with health workers and medical frontliners as the priority sectors.

The Philippines has at least 1.7 million health workers and medical frontliners.

Dizon is confident that the 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be available to health workers by April.

“Tingin ko aabot po ito kasi we only have around one million doses now and we need 3.4 million doses po ang kinakailangan natin for our health workers,” he said.

Dizon earlier said the government needs to vaccinate 250,000 to 300,000 people per day to meet its target of vaccinating 50 million Filipinos within the year.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. is currently in India to secure 30 million doses of Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, which is an American brand but is manufactured in Serum Institute of India, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of medicines.

“We have a  goal of inoculating 50 million Filipinos this year. We believe we can hit the target of 250,000-300,000 inoculations per day when the bulk of vaccines arrive,” Dizon told ANC in an interview.

Meanwhile, Indian Ambassador to the Philippines Shambhu Kumaran said the Philippines and Indian firm Bharat Biotech are in talks for a supply of at least 8 million coronavirus vaccines.

Kumaran said discussions are ongoing as Bharat Biotech awaits emergency use authorization (EUA) for Covaxin, its COVID-19 vaccine, from the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“There are ongoing conversations for a supply for Covaxin which can range anywhere from 8 million doses upwards. I don’t think we are in a position to be signing anything yet,” he said in an ANC interview.

The Philippines has 41,822 active COVID-19 cases so far. —KBK, GMA News