PH can secure up to 60 million doses from 3 pharma firms by next year—Galvez

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines can get as much as 60 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by next year should its negotiations with three pharmaceutical companies become successful, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said.

Galvez said the government is already in talks with AstraZeneca, Sinovac and Pfizer.

“In case makuha natin ang tatlong ito, makakabuo po tayo ng 60 million next year. Ibig sabihin, meron tayong magandang mga vaccine na nakita natin na safe, cost effective at yung efficacy, maganda po ang kanilang performance,” Galvez told President Rodrigo Duterte in a pre-recorded meeting aired Monday.

(In case we get these three, we can have 60 million next year. It means we will have good vaccines that are safe, cost effective and its efficacy has good performance.)

Galvez said the Philippine government is already expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with AstraZeneca before Nov. 30.

“Sa AstraZeneca po puwede na tayo magkaroon ng advance payment by November. Nakita natin ang AstraZeneca maganda po kasi non-profit po, pinapababa po yung presyo. More or less $5 lang po,” Galvez added.

(In AstraZeneca, we can give an advance payment by November. AstraZeneca is good because it is non-profit, they are trying to lower the cost, more or less $5 per dosage.)

Meanwhile, Galvez said the Federation Of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Inc. is helping the government negotiate with the Chinese embassy on vaccines from Sinovac.

“Maganda po ang naging ano natin sa Pfizer, nakita natin 95 percent po ang efficacy nila. Madali po natin nakausap yung kanyang company rep[resentative]. Maganda po yung kanilang offer,” he went on.

(We also had good talks with Pfizer, we saw that their vaccine has 95 percent efficacy. We easily talked with their company representative and their offer is good.)

ASU