Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., who was recently appointed by President Duterte as the vaccine czar bared Tuesday the “Philippine National Vaccine Roadmap,” a seven-point immunization plan by the national government to eradicate the threat of COVID-19.
In a Laging Handa press briefing, Galvez said the initial plan will begin from November 2020 until March 2021 when the potential vaccine is expected to be made available.
7 major stages
The immunization plan has seven major stages.
These are scientific evaluation; access and acquisition (guarantee of vaccine supply); procurement process; production, shipment and storage; distribution and deployment; implementation and nationwide vaccination; and assessment, evaluation and monitoring.
Galvez said the first and second stages – the scientific evaluation, and access and acquisition of potential vaccines – should be completed already by November to December 2020.
This will be initiated once they present the roadmap to Duterte on Thursday.
Critical timeline
“This is a critical timeline. The roadmap should be by the President this week,” said Galvez, who is also the chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 and the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unit (PAPRU).
Within the last quarter of the year, Galvez said a National Task Force (NTF) on COVID-19 vaccination and panel of experts should be fully organized.
Among the initial members of the task force are the Department of Health, Department of Science and Technology, University of the Philippines-National Institute of Health (UP-NIH), and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
He said that clinical trials for the potential vaccine should also take place during this period, as well as the approval of the analysis, selection and procurement of the cure.
The completion of the bilateral and multilateral engagements and arrangements with other countries and the private sector should also be done within this period.
Stages 3 to 7
Meanwhile, Galvez said they are targeting the commencement of stages three to seven in the first quarter of 2021.
“Baka doon tayo magstart ng (Maybe that's when we can start the) early procurement process and also the different stages including the production, shipment, and storage, early planning on distribution and deployment, and implementation ,” he said.
“Ito po ang aming (This is our) initial organizational roadmap wherein it is activity-based. Meaning from Stage 1 to Stage 7, ang organization po natin ay nagbabago (our organization will change). Kung saan ang activity ngayon, doon ang concentration ng tinatawag nating mga vaccine expert of panel (sic) and this will be led by the DOH, DOST, and the role of DFA and UP-NIH are very criticial,” he noted.
6 primary considerations
Through dialogues held with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Galvez said they have identified six primary considerations on the immunization plan namely: safety of the vaccine; efficacy; sensitivity or storage; cost and supply chain requirements; access for clinical trials and regional/local production and distribution; and complexity on its implementation.
But within the given time frame, Galvez expressed confidence that they will achieve their targets hoping that a vaccine will be made available late this year or early next year.
“Based on the report of Special Task Group on COVID-19 vaccine development, the earliest trial that we can have is maybe December.
At the same time, we can have an available , once the trials of Covax yield positive results, by March or May at the earliest. That is the prediction,” he said.
10 vaccines
There are 10 vaccine contenders in the country right now, eight of which are from COVAX, a global collaboration of countries to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccine, Galvez said.
Among the pharmaceutical companies with promising trials is the United Kingdom-based AstraZeneca, which, according to Galvez, has a capacity to produce one billion vaccines by the end of the year.
“Ito ang tinitignan natin (This is what we're looking at). That's why we are having an engagement with the Ambassaddor of UK so we can have some sort of diplomatic arrangement on how we can access this early the vaccines,” he said.
Diplomatic talks
The vaccine czar said he will also initiate diplomatic talks with representatives from China, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan – through the help of the DFA – so that the Philippines will have priority of a potential vaccine once it becomes available in the market.
Talks with pharmaceutical giants Zuellig Pharma and Unilab, Inc. are also ongoing for the availability of cold chain storage facilities, Galvez bared.
“There are pharmaceutical companies that have cold chain storage. May vaccine po na kailangan na negative 20 to negative 80 degree Celsius ang refrigeration," he said.
"Kung magpo-produce po tayo ng cold storage, tayo ang magproduce sa gobyerno, it will take time," he added.