The Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday, May 2, that the country may receive a donation of 390,000 doses of Covid-19 bivalent vaccines by the end of the month. In a media briefing, DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that it has begun with the process and has already secured an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) and other necessary requirements from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). "Hopefully by the end of May, we can be able to receive these 390,000 doses," she disclosed. Currently, Vergeire said that the agency is just finalizing the essential documents. Covid-19 bivalent vaccines were designed to specifically target the Omicron variant and its subvariants. Meanwhile, she explained that one of the hurdles that prevented the country from receiving the Covid-19 bivalent vaccines stemmed from a legal aspect since there was a requirement coming from the manufacturer itself which was to sign an indemnification clause and the immunity from liability. But she mentioned that a discussion occurred between the DOH and the government of the country who will be donating the vaccines. "Sila ay pumayag naman at nahikayat yung manufacturer na pumayag na na we are not going to have this immunity, parang general kasi yung statement na parang we are giving up our sovereign rights. Nabago yung clause and therefore nakapag-proceed tayo (They [government] agreed and the manufacturer was persuaded to allow us not to have this immunity, there was this general statement that we are giving up our sovereign rights. The clause was changed and we were able to proceed)," she said. On the other hand, Vergeire also disclosed that there are still no final agreements with the Covax Facility and that the first batch which was supposed to be delivered to the country was given in the meantime, to another country instead. "But they have commited that once we are ready with our basis legally ay maari naman tayong mabigyan pa rin," she added.