Negotiations with 25 COVID-19 vaccine developers underway – DOST
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said the Philippines is looking at how India is implementing its vaccination program that aims to inoculate 300 million people against COVID-19 by August.
(FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
“We’re looking to India to teach us,” he wrote in his tweet Friday evening.
“We’re certainly not looking to the West. But we need to look elsewhere to teach us how to get it done,” he added.
The Philippines is getting ready to vaccinate Filipinos starting February with the arrival of vaccines from China's Sinovac and the COVAX Facility next month.
It is also negotiating with 25 vaccine developers for potential supply of COVID-19 vaccines, Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato dela Peña said in a virtual presser last Friday.
Reports showed India's massive vaccination drive, which relies on digital platform CoWIN, will be able to handle up to 10 million shots daily to reach its target of covering 300 million by August.
The country has already vaccinated about 3 million healthcare workers during the first two weeks of the campaign, averaging over 200,000 a day.
India is using its own vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research. The Philippines' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Bharat Biotech has applied for emergency use authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin this month.
India, the most populous country in the world next to China, has recorded 10.7 million cases of COVID-19 as of writing, making it the country with the second-highest number of cases in the world. Of the said figure, 10.4 million recovered while 154,000 died.
The Philippine government is targeting to vaccinate 70 million Filipinos by the end of the year to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19. The national government is also counting on the local government units (LGUs) and the private sector to shoulder 13 million vaccinations to meet the government target.
The country has procured 25 million doses of Sinovac vaccines from China, while LGUs decided to strike a deal with British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.
Dela Peña, in a virtual presser, said the 25 vaccine developers are from 10 countries. “Out of these, there are already 12 that have signed confidentiality disclosure agreements (CDAs),” he said.
Dela Peña said that of the 25 vaccine developers, six are from China, six from the United States, three from Chinese Taipei, two from Russia, two from Australia, and two from Germany. There is one developer each from India, Japan, United Kingdom, and Canada.
He explained that for those who have signed CDAs, they will “now be required to send their data for the evaluation of our vaccine expert panel and also the evaluation by the health research ethics board.”
In the DOST Report streamlined on Friday afternoon, Dela Peña said the applications for COVID-19 vaccine Phase 3 clinical trials in the Philippines that has been approved to date are three for Janssen, Clover, and Sinovac.
He added that a CDA with Bharat Biotech for their clinical trials in the Philippines was recently signed. “But it will still have to go through the evaluation process and the submission of the requirements is being awaited,” he said.