The Philippine government has not signed a supply agreement with any of the world’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine makers.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III pointed this out during a hearing today by the Senate finance committee chaired by Senator Juan Edgardo ’’Sonny’’ M. Angara.
Galvez said negotiations for a supply agreement are still going on with Sinovax, Cocovax, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
What this means, according to Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, is that there is still no firm commitment that vaccines would be arriving in the country and expectations of vaccines coming to the country are just based on the good relations of Galvez.
The only vaccines that are scheduled to arrive in the Philippines are the 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines that do not need a supply agreement because they are donations from China.
Galvez explained that there are term sheets that had locked initial agreements to buy the vaccines and that 108 million doses had been secured.
Galvez said that when the Sinovac shipment arrive on February 23, there would be a technical inspection of the vaccines in two to three days followed by vaccination but this depends on the issuance by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) of emergency use authority (EUA) for the Sinovac vaccines.
FDA Director General Eric Domingo said Russia’s Sputnik vaccine has not complied with the required documentations before a EUA is given.
There is also no application for a EUA for Sinopharm from the Chinese government.
The Chinese government has reportedly no representative of Sinopharm.