ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Galvez to bring home 'good news' on vaccine supply from India

Galvez to bring home 'good news' on vaccine supply from India

Published Mar 12, 2021 03:38 pm

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. is expected to bring home "good news" about the country's acquisition of coronavirus vaccines from India, government officials said Friday.

Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) on COVID-19 (NTF AGAINST COVID-19 / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)

Galvez has traveled to India to negotiate the country's procurement of vaccines developed by Novavax and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. A supply deal was expected to be finalized during his trip to India this week.

"Without preempting him though, bago pa siya umalis, ang plano natin ay makakalap ng minimum ‘no 40 million dosage galing po sa Serum Institute of India. At tingnan natin kung ano ang magiging mabuting balitang dala-dala ni Secretary Galvez (Without preempting him though, before he left, our plan was to secure a minimum of 40 million doses from Serum Institute of India. Let's see the good news Secretary Galvez will bring home)," Roque said during a televised press conference Friday, March 12.

Testing czar Vivencio Dizon affirmed that Galvez is expected to return home this weekend with encouraging updates on the government's vaccine procurement program.

"Tingin ko po ay napakaganda ng balitang ibibigay niya sa buong bansa pagbalik niya pero huwag na po nating pangunahan siguro, hintayin po natin siyang bumalik at mag-anunsiyo ng mga magagandang balitang ibabalita niya sa ating lahat (I think he will return home with very good news for the entire country but let's not preempt it. Let's wait for his return and announcement about the good news for everyone)," Dizon said in the same press briefing.

The Palace earlier announced that the Philippines was expected to sign a supply agreement with Novavax for 30 million vaccine doses on March 10. Galvez went to India on March 9 to finalize the deal as well as request an early delivery of the vaccines.

India's Ambassador to the Philippines Shambhu Kumaran had said the vaccine supply could be delivered to the Philippines by the second or third quarter of the year. Manila is also reportedly in the middle of negotiations for 8 million Covaxin vaccines developed by India's Bharat Biotech.

The company could begin supplying the shots by April or May if an agreement is signed, according to the ambassador.

The Philippines has so far received over 1.1 million vaccines doses from Sinovac and AstraZeneca, paving the way for the distribution of the preventive drug to health frontliners.

More vaccine supplies are being secured by the government to meet its goal to inoculate 70 million Filipinos this year to attain herd immunity.

The vaccination program is one of the government's efforts to help boost public health while promoting economic recovery during the pandemic.

ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.