Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Wednesday, Aug. 18, shed light on the apparent delay in the signing of multi-party agreements (MPAs) for the procurement of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines.
This, after Sen. Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri revealed that several MPAs for the purchase of at least 10 million doses of vaccines have not yet been signed and were put on hold by the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19.
The MPAs, according to Zubiri, include the requests for vaccine procurements of 42 local government units (LGUs) and around 300 private companies.
"We would like to reassure Senator Zubiri that the National Task Force Against COVID-19 and the Vaccine Cluster are determined to secure safe, effective, and sufficient vaccines to inoculate 100 percent of the country’s adult population," said Galvez, who also is the chief implementer of the NTF.
Galvez confirmed that some MPAs have been temporarily "put on hold" or "not yet signed." He, however, did not disclose how many doses were actually involved in these hanging deals.
The government was able to secure a total of 164 million vaccines until the end of this year.
'Hanging'
According to the vaccine czar, some Moderna and AstraZeneca deals went temporarily unsigned because they "are no longer accepting vaccine orders through MPAs for the time being."
Meanwhile, he noted that Novavax has yet to receive an emergency use authorization (EUA) for its vaccine from the Philippines' Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA disclosed earlier this month that the United States-based pharmaceutical company has already applied for an EUA but their application has yet to be decided on.
On the other hand, Sinovac, Pfizer, and Sputnik V "intend to prioritize the orders of the national government given current supply constraints," according to Galvez.
Galvez added that COVAXIN, made by India's Bharat Biotech, has yet to secure approval from the Philippines' Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC), a unit under the Department of Health which recommends what brands should be included in the country's portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines.
"We remain concerned about potential overpricing issues on the aforesaid vaccine," he stressed.
Lastly, Galvez said that Janssen Pharmaceutical's Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccine "is currently not open for MPAs" as provided for under the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021 or Republic Act No. 11525.
Commitments
Galvez assured that the NTF is "committed to honor all the commitments it has made under the MPAs which have already been signed with local government units" in accordance with RA 11525.
However, Galvez said that the country has to "face the reality" that vaccine makers "are still not able" to produce at a level that would meet the requirements of all nations.
"The issue is not just about having the resources to procure the vaccines but its limited supply in the world market," he explained.
So far, the country has already received 42,575,350 of vaccines since February.
Of these, a total of 27.80 million doses were already administered nationwide. Around 15.24 million Filipinos have been given with their first dose while 12.56 million have been fully vaccinated.