Philippines signs supply deal with Pfizer-BioNTech for 40M vaccine doses

The Philippines has signed an agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech for the procurement of 40 million doses of the American firm's COVID-19 vaccines, National Task Force against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Sunday.

“We are very happy to report that the government and the management of Pfizer have finally concluded our negotiations. Secretary Duque and I signed yesterday the supply agreement for the biggest and most decisive deal we had for 2021,” Galvez said in a statement. 

“I would like to thank my colleagues from the Philippine vaccine negotiating team from the Department of Finance and our multilateral partner for tirelessly working to secure these much-needed shots that will benefit 20 million Filipinos," he added.

Pfizer vaccines will be delivered after eight weeks starting August this year, Galvez said. He also noted that the shipments will be delivered in bulk.

Also, the Pfizer vaccine doses were funded through a multilateral arrangement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

According to the vaccine czar, transparency will be guaranteed by using a direct disbursement scheme on loan funds from multilateral partners, wherein payments are paid "directly by the fund manager to the vaccine manufacturer."

“Through this scheme, the Filipino people can be assured that our transactions on vaccine procurement will be transparent, as the funds will not pass through the hands of any government official or agency. Wala pong dumadaan na pera sa amin,” he said.

As for other supply agreements, Galvez said vaccine deals of around 16 million doses from Novavax and Johnson & Johnson are still under negotiation.

Earlier, the government said it is also eyeing to sign a supply agreement for six million doses of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine. 

With the recent supply deal from Pfizer, the Philippines secured the delivery of 113 million doses from five vaccine makers namely, Sinovac with 26 million doses, Sputnik V with 10 million doses, 20 million doses from Moderna, 17 million doses from AstraZeneca, and 40 million doses from Pfizer. 

The COVAX facility has also committed to deliver a total of 44 million doses to the country this year, bringing to 157 million doses the total number of doses secured by the Philippines.  

The Philippines' Department of Health also previously approved Pfizer vaccines for inoculation of individuals aged 12 and above. 

However, the NTF said it would first start vaccination of the adult population and vulnerable sector before moving to inoculation of children. —KG, GMA News