Two more brands of coronavirus vaccine might arrive in the country next month apart from the vaccines developed by China's Sinovac, Malacañang announced Thursday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, in a televised press briefing, mentioned the possible shipment of vaccines made by American drugmaker Pfizer and Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute into the country by February.
"I’m not at liberty to announce kung ilan po pero mayroon pong kaunting papasok din ng Pfizer pagdating ng Pebrero (I'm not at liberty to announce the quantity but there will be some supply coming from Pfizer this February)," Roque said.
"So pagdating po ng Pebrero, hindi lang 50,000 Sinovac ang available, mayroon na rin pong papasok na galing sa Pfizer at hindi rin po imposible na by February baka mayroon na rin tayong maangkat galing po sa Gamaleya ng Russia. (By February, it won't be just the 50,000 Sinovac vaccines that will be available, but also those coming from Pfizer. It is also not impossible that by February, we might import some supply from Russia's Gamaleya)," he said.
"So iyong 50,000, iyan po siguradong papasok ng Pebrero pero mas malaki pa po posible ang numero (So the 50,000 will certainly arrive in February but it is possible the number will be bigger)," he added.
Roque earlier claimed that the Chinese-developed vaccines could be the only preventive drug available in the country from February to June since other vaccines are expected to be delivered by July.
Despite concerns raised by some groups about its low efficacy rate, the government pushed through with a supply deal for 25 million doses of Sinovac vaccines, with the first 50,000 doses expected to arrive next month. The rest of the vaccines will be delivered until December 2021.
Apart from Sinovac vaccines, the country has secured additional supplies from Serum Institute of India and AstraZeneca to help protect Filipinos from the coronavirus. The government aims to secure 148 million doses of vaccines to benefit 70 million Filipinos to achieve herd immunity. Frontline health workers, poor and vulnerable sector, essential workers are among the priority beneficiaries of the free vaccines.
So far, the country's Food and Drug Administration has issued an approval for the emergency use of Pfizer vaccines in the country. Applications made by AstraZeneca and Gamaleya are still pending before the local drug regulators.