Amid the controversy brought by the Philippine government's alleged demand for private companies to donate half of the vaccines they want to buy to the government, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said it was actually the idea of British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Galvez, also the chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, said this is part of AstraZeneca's "corporate principle" which states that there should be an equitable and non-privilege access of vaccines for everyone.

"yong AstraZeneca po ang nag-demand ng tinatawag nating 50 percent na ano po, na mayroon po sa government. Kasi mayroon po silang provision sa kanilang tinatawag na corporate principle na equitable access at saka non-privilege access (It is the AstraZeneca which demanded that 50 percent should go to the government. It's because they have certain provisions on equitable access and non-privilege access in their corporate principle)," he said on Tuesday, March 23.

"Meaning, iyong parang ang purpose ng private sector ay para ma-balance na iyong 50 percent na bibilhin ng private sector, ibibigay po iyan sa mga marginalize targeted population ng public sector (It means that the private sector should balance their procurement by giving 50 percent to the marginalized targeted population from the public sector)," he added.

Over the weekend, the NTF Against COVID-19 was criticized on social media after it was alleged that the government is requiring private sectors to donate 50 percent of their vaccine procurement for public use.

But Galvez bared that there are no similar arrangements from other vaccine manufacturers which have ongoing negotiations with the government.

"Wala po tayong ano po sa Moderna, wala po tayong agreement sa Novavax at wala po tayong agreement sa Sinovac or other companies na kailangan po nilang mag-donate ng 50 percent. Only AstraZeneca demanded the 50 percent (We have no with Moderna, we have no agreement with Novavax, and we have no agreement with Sinovac or other companies that requires them to donate 50 percent. Only AstraZeneca demanded the 50 percent)," Galvez said.

Meanwhile, the vaccine czar lauded the private sector for its role of expediting the government's vaccination program by procuring their own supply of COVID-19 vaccines.

In May, the country is expecting the delivery of 8,974,000 vaccine doses, including the 2.6 million doses procured by the private sector for P700 million through a tripartite agreement with AstraZeneca and the national government.