The government announced Monday that it is looking to seal a deal with Chinese vaccine manufacturer Sinovac Biotech for the delivery of 25 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in the country by the first quarter of 2021.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, said he held a “very substantial” and “very conclusive” meeting with the representatives of Sinovac last Friday and he hopes to finalize their negotiation “most likely this week.”
“We already conveyed to them our needs, ‘yung needs natin is about 25 million (doses) for 2021 for Sinovac,” Galvez said in a “Laging Handa” press briefing.
Galvez said Sinovac officials expressed confidence that they can supply the amount of vaccines by April 2021 but he is negotiating if it could be delivered earlier.
“We want to finalize our negotiation so that we can trim up the head of terms. We are looking at the exact time of distribution. They are very confident that they will have the sources by April but we are negotiating (to have it delivered) by March,” he said.
Once the deal is reached, the Chinese vaccine candidate could be the first vaccine to arrive in the country, ahead of British-Swedish AstraZeneca which is expected to reach the Philippines by the first quarter of 2021.
Last month, the government signed a tripartite agreement with AstraZeneca and the private sector for the delivery of 2.6 million doses of its vaccine.
Sinovac reviewed
According to Galvez, Sinovac has been reviewed and cleared by the country's Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP).
However, the Chinese vaccine maker has yet to pass the requirements so that it can conduct a Phase 3 clinical trial here.
Philippine Ambassador to China Jose “Chito” Santaromana said Sinovac has already conducted its Phase 3 clinical trials in other countries, including Indonesia, Brazil, and Turkey, and their trials yielded positive results.
He added that Indonesia is set to roll out the Sinovac vaccine early this week or next week as he expressed confidence on its efficacy.
Galvez said they are just awaiting for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to clear Sinovac before they can fully commit to the Chinese vaccine manufacturer.
This is amid a foreign report which stated that Brazilian authorities suspended the Phase 3 clinical trial of Sinovac last month after the occurrence of an “adverse, serious event.”
However, Brazil's health regulators reportedly said that the suspension of Sinovac's clinical trial was the result of a death of a test subject which had been ruled out as a suicide, contrary to speculations that it was because of the side effects of the vaccine.
Sinovac's reliability has also been affected by a report released by US based newspaper Washington Post which found out that the vaccine manufacturer has a record of supposedly bribing Chinese drug regulators in 2017 to secure vaccine approvals.
Galvez said they have already looked into the report as he assured the public that they are making all the necessary precautions to ensure that the vaccine that will enter the Philippines will be safe and effective.
“'Yan po ay tinanong namin sa ating (We already raised that matter to our regulatory board). They will examine those allegations,” he said.
Galvez also expressed confidence on the reliability of Sinovac, especially after the Chinese firm offered him “after sales freebies” which would ensure their “efficient service” to Filipinos who will be inoculated by their vaccine candidate.
“We are talking with Sinovac, and in fairness to them, they have given us all the after sales freebies na talagang magiging maganda 'yung serbisyo ng Sinovac including the apps (applications) for after inoculation. Ine-evaluate namin lahat pati head of terms at supply agreements with different companies. The negotiation that we have is very clean and open,” he said.
The government plans to vaccinate 70 to 80 million Filipinos by 2025 as part of its National Vaccine Roadmap to eradicate the threat of COVID-19 in the country.
US to start vaccinating
The United States, meanwhile, prepared to start its COVID-19 vaccination program on Monday as the nation's death toll edged toward 300,000, while Germany announced a partial lockdown over the holidays due to an explosion of cases.
Delivery trucks with special refrigeration equipment rolled out of a facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday as part of a public-private plan to ship millions of doses of the newly approved Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to vulnerable Americans.
Courier services FedEx and UPS have deployed fleets of trucks and planes to carry their precious cargo – sometimes under armed guard – to all 50 states, where healthcare workers and nursing-home residents will be first in line.
“Vaccines are shipped and on their way,” President Donald Trump tweeted. “Get well USA. Get well WORLD.”
One state governor, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, said that “we now believe that the first individuals will be vaccinated” on Monday – less than 72 hours after the vaccine received emergency authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration.
An initial 2.9 million doses are set to be delivered by Wednesday, with officials saying 20 million Americans could receive the two shot regimen by year end, and 100 million by March.
But the breakthrough comes at one of the darkest moments of the pandemic, with infections in the United States and many other countries soaring, and health experts still struggling against vaccine skepticism, lockdown fatigue and uneven adherence to safety rules.
Grim US death toll
The US has the world's highest death toll of more than 299,000, and the largest number of cases, at 16.2 million – including more than 1.5 million new cases in just the past week.
Worldwide, there have been at least 1.6 million deaths since the outbreak emerged in China last December, and 71.6 million cases overall. (With a report from AFP)